North Carolina Joins Mid-Atlantic Effort to Assess Offshore Wind Opportunities

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina has joined a regional effort undertaken by its fellow mid-Atlantic states to assess the region’s existing offshore wind capabilities and identify supply change investments to most effectively leverage the resources.

The initiative, called the “SMART-POWER Workforce and Supply Chain Analysis,” is a partnership between the states, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and the National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium.

In addition to North Carolina, the participating states are Virginia, Maryland and Delaware.

“North Carolina is ideally positioned to support the responsible development of offshore wind in the U.S.,” said North Carolina Commerce Secretary Machelle Baker Sanders in a written statement. 

“North Carolina has the greatest technical potential for offshore wind energy generation of any state on the East Coast coupled with the largest manufacturing presence on the Eastern Seaboard,” she said, adding, “Our central location on the East Coast means we can support offshore wind up and down the entire Eastern Seaboard by supplying parts manufactured in North Carolina as well as maritime support.”

The partnership recently provided funding to NREL for the development of a national “Supply Chain Roadmap” that will provide a framework for evaluating different supply chain scenarios, including investment in new manufacturing facilities, upgrading ports, building new vessels, creating new workforce training centers and creating assets in new port communities.

That national-level assessment provided insight into high-impact gaps that could impact the entire offshore wind industry.

In the new study, announced Oct. 3, NREL will work with SMART-POWER states to understand how these states can fill these gaps and realize local benefits.

Final results of the project and a full report will be released in early 2025.

In 2020, North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland signed a Memorandum of Understanding creating the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic Regional Transformative Partnership for Offshore Wind Energy Resources. 

This collaboration provides a framework for the three states to cooperatively promote, develop, and expand offshore wind energy and the accompanying industry supply chain and workforce.

The U.S. offshore wind industry — and its supply chain — represent an estimated 85,000 new jobs and $140 billion in capital expenditures along the Atlantic Coast by 2035 according to a comprehensive report released by the North Carolina Department of Commerce in 2021.

In June of that year, Gov. Roy Cooper signed Executive Order 218, establishing North Carolina’s offshore wind development goals of 2.8 GW by 2030 and 8.0 GW by 2040. 

The order also established the North Carolina Taskforce for Offshore Wind Economic Resource Strategies, which provides expert advice to the governor and state policymakers on ways to advance offshore wind energy in North Carolina, with a special focus on economic development and job creation.

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @DanMcCue