Wind Turbine Project Report Pdf

Falling offshore wind prices, state-level commitments, and an unprecedented expansion into new leasing areas drove the U.S. offshore wind pipeline to grow 13.5% over the previous year, with 40,083 megawatts (MW) now in various stages of development. The pipeline includes two projects in operation totaling 42 MW, two projects under construction totaling 932 MW, and 18 projects in the permitting phase totaling 18,581 MW. Over the last year, the Biden-Harris Administration significantly expanded areas of the country available to offshore wind development, with six new lease areas auctioned in New York Bight, two new lease areas auctioned in Carolina Long Bay, and plans to lease new areas in California, Gulf of Mexico, Central Atlantic, Oregon, and Gulf of Maine.

The industry continues its trend toward larger turbines to reduce per-megawatt project costs. The average offshore wind turbine capacity installed in 2021 was 7.4 MW, slightly down from 7.6 MW in 2020, but still significantly higher than 3.3 MW in 2011. All three major European manufacturers of offshore wind turbines are working on developing 15-MW-class wind turbines with rotor diameters spanning up to 236 meters (compared to 158-meter-average rotor diameters in 2021), with plans for commercial production between 2022 and 2024.

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As of May 31, 2023, the Offshore Wind Market Report: 2023 Edition estimates the U.S. offshore wind energy pipeline to have 52,687 MW of capacity, which is the sum of installed projects, projects under construction, projects approved for construction, projects undergoing various state and federal permitting processes, existing lease areas, and the development potential of yet to be leased wind energy areas.

The report includes information on state permitting agencies and processes for a more complete picture of the landscape beyond the federal processes. It delineates responsibilities each agency has for different aspects of offshore wind development, including application and review process for projects within their jurisdictions.

The global weighted average cost of newly commissioned solar photovoltaic (PV), onshore and offshore wind power projects fell in 2021. This was despite rising materials and equipment costs, given that there is a significant lag in the pass through to total installed costs.

Under the Jones Act, vessels carrying merchandise between two points in the U.S. must be built and registered in the United States. Developers are planning a number of offshore wind projects along the U.S. east coast, where many states have set targets for offshore wind energy production. Stakeholders described two approaches to using vessels to install offshore wind energy projects in the U.S. Either approach may lead to the construction of new vessels that comply with the Jones Act. Under one approach, a Jones Act-compliant wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV) would carry components from a U.S. port to the site and also install the turbines. WTIVs have a large deck, legs that allow the vessel to lift out of the water, and a tall crane to lift and place turbines. Stakeholders told GAO there are currently no Jones Act-compliant vessels capable of serving as a WTIV. One company, however, has announced a plan to build one. Under the second approach, a foreign-flag WTIV would install the turbines with components carried to the site from U.S. ports by Jones Act-compliant feeder vessels (see figure). While some potential feeder vessels exist, stakeholders said larger ones would probably need to be built to handle the large turbines developers would likely use.

Offshore wind, a significant potential source of energy in the United States, requires a number of oceangoing vessels for installation and other tasks. Depending on the use, these vessels may need to comply with the Jones Act. Because Jones Act-compliant vessels are generally more expensive to build and operate than foreign-flag vessels, using such vessels may increase the costs of offshore wind projects. Building such vessels may also lead to some economic benefits for the maritime industry. A provision was included in statute for GAO to review offshore wind vessels.

This report examines (1) approaches to use of vessels that developers are considering for offshore wind, consistent with Jones Act requirements, and the extent to which such vessels exist, and (2) the challenges industry stakeholders have identified associated with constructing and using such vessels to support U.S. offshore wind, and the actions federal agencies have taken to address these challenges.

GAO analyzed information on vessels that could support offshore wind, reviewed relevant laws and studies, and interviewed officials from federal agencies and industry stakeholders selected based on their involvement in ongoing projects and recommendations from others.

Hundreds of thousands of protected birds, including some endangered species, die each year when they collide with wind turbines and associated power lines. The number of turbines is set to grow significantly as wind energy projects continue to expand across the landscape, likely causing a major increase in this already serious problem.

American Bird Conservancy has identified 10 of the worst-sited wind energy projects in the United States. The projects listed below are merely illustrative of a much broader problem, and were selected to show a range of wind development-related threats to birds in various regions and habitats, said Mike Parr, ABC's Vice President and Chief Conservation Officer. (See press release or view list as a PDF.)

Wind energy continues to see strong growth, solid performance, and attractive prices in the U.S., according to a report released by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and prepared by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). With levelized costs of just over $30 per megawatt-hour (MWh) for newly built projects, the cost of wind is well below its grid-system, health, and climate benefits.

Additional Information:

The full Land-Based Wind Market Report: 2022 Edition, a presentation slide deck that summarizes the report, several interactive data visualizations, and an Excel workbook that contains the data presented in the report, can be downloaded from windreport.lbl.gov. Companion reports on offshore wind and distributed wind are also available from the Department of Energy.

This report summarizes work conducted by Clipper Windpower under the DOE Low Wind Speed Turbine project. The objective of this project was to produce a wind turbine that can lower the cost of energy.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has evaluated wind energy development potential and possible sensitivities with other resources on public lands across 11 western states. The West-Wide Wind Mapping Project maps wind energy resources on the public lands and identifies existing land use exclusions and other potential resource sensitivities that may affect wind energy development opportunities. The project has mapped the following areas:

Regional and state wind energy development exclusions and resource sensitivities maps and associated geospatial data developed as part of the West-Wide Wind Mapping Project are available on the Maps and Data page. These maps depict areas on BLM-administered lands excluded from wind energy development at the time of completion of the WWMP project in 2016, as well as areas with potentially developable wind energy resources where proposed wind energy projects would be expected to have a high level of siting considerations, a moderate level of siting considerations, or where there are no known environmental resources or land use restrictions that are likely to require more extensive consideration in siting reviews. Learn More

The Wind Energy Environmental Mapper is undergoing maintenance. The Geospatial Energy Mapper is another tool that can be used to evaluate wind energy potential, view locations of wind turbines, and much more.

Through subsequent state-level efforts, the BLM has identified additional BLM-administered lands that may be suitable for wind energy development, but because of environmental and other sensitivities, proposed wind energy development projects on these lands are anticipated to have more extensive siting considerations. These evaluations have not been incorporated into any national level maps, nor assessed at the national level for consistency in approach. In this project, lands with wind speeds of 5 meters per second or greater are considered to be potentially developable.

The West-Wide Wind Mapping Project identified and mapped BLM-administered lands in the eleven western states that would be excluded from wind development on the basis of decisions made in the Wind PEIS and subsequent policy and land use plan amendments. The project further identified additional BLM-administered lands with potentially developable wind resources where the presence of certain environmental resources or land use restrictions may require relatively more extensive levels of review of proposed wind energy projects. These lands are described and mapped as lands having a high level of siting considerations (HLSC), and lands having a moderate level of siting considerations (MLSC).

Wind is a renewable energy source. Overall, using wind to produce energy has fewer effects on the environment than many other energy sources. Wind turbines do not release emissions that can pollute the air or water (with rare exceptions), and they do not require water for cooling. Wind turbines may also reduce electricity generation from fossil fuels, which results in lower total air pollution and carbon dioxide emissions.

An individual wind turbine has a relatively small physical footprint. Groups of wind turbines, sometimes called wind farms, are located on open land, on mountain ridges, or offshore in lakes or the ocean.

Modern wind turbines can be very large machines, and they may visually affect the landscape. A small number of wind turbines have also caught fire, and some have leaked lubricating fluids, but these occurrences are rare. Wind turbine blades make noise as they turn in the wind and some people do not like the sound. Birds and bats can be injured or killed if they are hit by turbine blades. These deaths may contribute to declines in the population of species also affected by other human-related impacts. The wind energy industry and the U.S. government are researching ways to reduce the effect of wind turbines on birds and bats. 17dc91bb1f