Page 30: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (February 2023)

FLOATING WIND

CREST Wind, a joint venture between Crowley and ESVAGT,

CREST Wind has selected

Fincantieri

Marine Group to build a service operation vessel for operations in the U.S. offshore wind sector.

FRONTIERS EXTEND AS

DEVELOPERS EYE FLOATING

WIND POTENTIAL

America may have only entered the offshore wind sector recently, but it is wasting no time in playing catch-up. The White House has set targets of 30 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030 and 110 GW by 2050. The focus so far has centred on bottom-? xed installations, but the prospect of higher energy yields in deeper waters where the wind blows stronger and longer now beckon. The White House has also set a ? oating wind deployment target of 15 GW by 2035.

By Paul Bartlett rom a standing start, there are immense challenges is likely by the end of the year, and federal authorities plan in America’s offshore wind development. Rich in to auction leases containing more than 15 GW in the Gulf of oil and gas, renewables remained marginal until Mexico, the Central Atlantic and offshore Oregon.

the Biden Administration took of? ce. Now, off- A recent report produced by Intelatus Global Partners, an shore wind is a key focus as the US plays catch- energy consultancy, revealed 70 US offshore wind projects in-

Fup with wind developers in Europe and Asia. volving the installation of around 78 GW of capacity between

In? ation and higher interest rates may be changing the eco- now and 2040. The Intelatus study reveals that no fewer than nomics on which developers base their investment decisions, 32 projects, with total planned capacity of almost 30 GW, are but it has not shaken their ambitions. The months ahead prom- expected to receive ? nal investment decisions (FIDs) within ise to yield a series of announcements relating to offshore the next ? ve years. They include ? ve demonstration sites on wind developments. Permitting for close to 5 GW of projects both coasts. 30 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • February 2023

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