Wind Research
Coastal Wind Resource Assessment

Coastal Wind Resource Assessment

An NREL assessment provides an update on wind energy potential and spatial characteristics along the coastlines of the contiguous United States.

Map of the United States showing potential locations for offshore wind energy installations. Fixed substructure areas are mostly located near shore on the East and Gulf coasts as well as some Great Lake areas. Floating substructure areas are beyond that on the East and Gulf coasts as well as offshore on the West Coast, most of the Great Lakes, and around Hawaii. — This map shows the general locations of wind resources off the coast of the United States where fixed-bottom (yellow) and floating (blue) turbines could be installed to contribute energy to the U.S. grid. Data presented do not consider potential siting constraints but do include a maximum water-depth constraint of 1,300 m. *Graphic by Philipp Beiter, NREL*

Wind energy technology installed along the coasts of the United States could provide terawatts of power to the grid, enough energy to cover three times the U.S. annual electricity consumption. Representing regional and national opportunities for offshore wind energy development, this assessment identifies 1.5 terawatts of energy in technical resource potential from fixed-bottom wind farms and 2.8 terawatts from floating offshore wind farms across eight geographic areas in the contiguous United States. By including technology advancements, which enable increasingly economic deployment in moderate-quality sites and deeper waters, this update reflects a notable increase from prior estimates of technical potential.

This NREL-led evaluation captures and informs on unique siting challenges related to marine environmental, jurisdictional, and socioeconomic considerations by characterizing the energy potential with spatial layers that estimate the quantity and quality of resource that may be affected. This work supports the responsible deployment of offshore wind energy and includes the separate impacts of existing infrastructure, environmental considerations (e.g., sensitive marine species and habitat), and U.S. Department of Defense operational constraints.

Overall, the project, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Wind Energy Technologies Office, focused on the evaluation of offshore wind energy technical potential in the contiguous United States and partitions results between fixed-bottom and floating offshore wind energy technologies across eight regions. Wind farm developers determine optimal substructure (either fixed to the seafloor or floating but anchored to the seafloor) by a variety of factors—such as component costs, installation and maintenance logistics, seafloor geologic (e.g., soil and seismic) conditions, and permitting—and may change over time as technology and conditions evolve. In this effort, a 60-m water depth considered a reasonable delineator between fixed-bottom and floating offshore wind turbine deployment (see map) for a high-level assessment from prior techno-economic modeling, but this water depth should not be considered a hard technical or economic limit.

Objectives

The objectives of this project were to:

Update the assumptions used to characterize offshore wind energy technical potential, including turbine and plant spatial siting and density constraints, assumed seafloor depth constraints, and inclusion of the Great Lakes
Quantifying the total technical potential for offshore wind energy in the contiguous United States as well as the relative share of that technical potential available to fixed-bottom and floating offshore wind turbine substructure technologies.

Publications

Offshore Wind Technical Potential, NREL Presentation (2022)

Contact

Nicola Bodini

Physics Researcher

[email protected]