In a discovery by researchers from Leiden University in the Netherlands, offshore wind turbines have become a haven for benthos — the community of marine organisms that live in, on or around the seafloor. There are more soil animals per square meter living in the foundations of offshore wind farms than on the floor of […]
The Biden administration will hold the nation’s first-ever lease auction for commercial-scale floating wind energy leases today. The five deep-water lease tracts in two areas about 25 miles off the California coast have the potential to generate 4.5 GW of electricity, enough to power 1.5 million homes. Global interest in the lease sales is strong […]
Offshore wind farms can have an impact on the marine ecosystems they are built in and upon, a new study has found, but much more research is needed to understand those impacts and how to best plan for them.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak looks poised to reverse a default ban on onshore wind farms as the country responds to the climate and energy crises. When running for leader of the Conservative Party during the summer, Sunak had said he would not relax what amounts to a ban on onshore wind farms in Britain, […]
One common tactic of renewable energy opponents is to emphasize the new technology’s environmental impact in a way that disguises the harm caused by what it is intended to replace. For example, wind power opponents often point to the turbines’ threat to birds. However, a 2012 study found that fossil fuel plants kill 35 times […]
The U.S. government will hold its first ever West Coast lease sale for offshore wind power, the Department of the Interior announced Tuesday. The Biden administration’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will lease land off the Northern and Central California coast on December 6. In addition to being the country’s first Pacific coast sale, […]
The Biden administration committed Thursday to build enough floating offshore wind capacity by 2035 to power 5 million homes. The 15GW by 2035 target is in addition to the administration’s goal of installing 30GW of traditional offshore wind by 2030. Floating offshore wind is still an emerging technology, producing 0.2% of global offshore wind power, […]
The California Energy Commission (CEC) has established new offshore wind energy planning goals of 2,000 to 5,000 MW of offshore wind power by 2030 and up to 25,000 MW of offshore wind by 2045. If these goals are met, the offshore wind could meet power demands for up to 25 million homes by 2045. To […]
The Biden administration is teaming up with 11 East Coast states to boost offshore wind energy. The new Federal-State Offshore Wind Implementation Partnership will bolster President Joe Biden’s goal of creating 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030. This will generate 77,000 new jobs and power 10 million homes while working towards the administration’s plan […]