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April 6, 2010

Virginia signs up to offshore wind, but is the signature real?

Siemens has the most experience when it comes to manufacturing offshore wind turbines, and will capitalize on US manufacturers getting into the industry late

Virginia is taking a fresh look at the offshore wind potential in its waters, which is good news for the environment, even if the state is also looking to open up new oil fields in the Atlantic.

But Governor Bob McDonnell has fallen out with the wind lobby over its inclusion of his name on material campaigning for a national Renewable Electricity Standard.

As the Washington Post reports, the Governor was fuming that he had not, apparently, even seen the letter sent by the Governors’ Wind Coalition to Congress.

“They sent out a letter with my name on it that I didn’t approve, never saw. That’s the problem,” McDonnell said. “Secondly, the contents of the letter said that all the governors that were signatories were supportive of a mandatory (renewable energy standard) that I am not. So that’s the problem.”

Falling behind

At least Governor McDonnell is still on board with the concept of offshore wind energy, something in which the US is falling seriously behind.

Europe and China are powering ahead with offshore wind projects because of solid support from governments and industry. The danger for America is that by the time it does eventually get round to making use of its offshore wind potential, all the equipment will come from abroad.

It’s time to get a move on – we’ve already seen that the Cape Wind project – if it goes ahead – will use German turbines, rather than machines from GE. The decision is understandable, since Siemens has had more turbines installed offshore than any other manufacturer.

American manufacturers are building up to deliver on the offshore wind potential – with firms like AMSC and Clipper developing giant turbines, along with GE’s development of a more modest 4MW offering.

But, these companies are looking to Europe and the Far East for their machines, with Clipper opening up a factory in the UK, and GE investing $450 million in factories in Norway, Germany, the United Kingdom and Sweden.

All this means thousands of manufacturing jobs that will not be created in the US.

Support is needed for offshore wind in the US, for milestone projects like Cape Wind, and to make the most of the entire resource, investment in a major offshore grid in areas with good wind potential – again, something the Europeans are already doing.