ABUNDANT, AFFORDABLE OFFSHORE WIND CAN ACCELERATE OUR CLEAN ELECTRICITY FUTURE

The report argues that the United States can leverage its vast offshore wind potential to provide 10-25% of its total electricity generation by 2050 without significantly increasing wholesale costs. It details three ambition scenarios (Low, Medium, and High), noting that a High Ambition target of 750 GW by 2050 would result in wholesale costs only 0.25% higher than a baseline scenario. The analysis emphasizes that offshore wind complements land-based renewables, reducing the required installation rate of the latter. However, scaling the industry requires substantial capital investment—exceeding $260 billion in the supply chain through 2045—and a shift toward clustered transmission planning to reduce interconnection costs by 35%. The report also projects that a High Ambition scenario could support approximately 390,000 jobs by 2050.

• The United States possesses significant offshore wind potential, with a total technical capacity of nearly 4,000 GW, of which 1,000 GW has capacity factors exceeding 50%.
• Integrating offshore wind to provide 10-25% of total U.S. electricity generation by 2050 is feasible without substantial impacts on wholesale electricity costs; in the High Ambition scenario (750 GW by 2050), costs are only 0.25% higher than the baseline in 2050.
• Offshore wind reduces the burden on land-based renewable deployment; achieving net zero without offshore wind would require installing land-based wind and solar at five times the 2021 rate, whereas increasing offshore wind reduces this to three or four times that rate.
• Scaling the domestic supply chain to support a 20% electricity share from offshore wind would require cumulative investments exceeding $260 billion through 2045 and a four to fivefold increase in manufacturing facilities compared to the 30 GW by 2030 target.
• A clustered transmission approach, where multiple wind farms share a single high-voltage line, could reduce offshore transmission interconnection costs by approximately 35% compared to a business-as-usual single-plant approach.
• Offshore wind generation is complementary to solar and land-based wind, peaking in the evening and providing critical capacity during winter heating peaks on the East Coast and summer air conditioning peaks on the West Coast.
• The High Ambition offshore wind scenario could support approximately 390,000 jobs across the economy by 2050, with an additional 65,000 jobs created if an ambitious domestic content strategy is pursued over a modest one.
• The transition to a net zero economy is projected to triple U.S. electricity demand by 2050, reaching at least 10,700 TWh annually with winter daily peak demand exceeding 2,100 GW.

APA

Norton, G., & Schroeder, D. (n.d.). ABUNDANT, AFFORDABLE OFFSHORE WIND CAN ACCELERATE OUR CLEAN ELECTRICITY FUTURE. Energy Innovation. https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/2035-Offshore-Wind-Technical-Report-2.pdf

Chicago

Norton, Gary, and Dennis Schroeder. ABUNDANT, AFFORDABLE OFFSHORE WIND CAN ACCELERATE OUR CLEAN ELECTRICITY FUTURE. Energy Innovation, n.d. https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/2035-Offshore-Wind-Technical-Report-2.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Norton |first1=Gary |last2=Schroeder |first2=Dennis |title=ABUNDANT, AFFORDABLE OFFSHORE WIND CAN ACCELERATE OUR CLEAN ELECTRICITY FUTURE |publisher=Energy Innovation |url=https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/2035-Offshore-Wind-Technical-Report-2.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{nortonndabundant, author = {Norton, Gary and Schroeder, Dennis}, title = {{ABUNDANT, AFFORDABLE OFFSHORE WIND CAN ACCELERATE OUR CLEAN ELECTRICITY FUTURE}}, institution = {Energy Innovation}, url = {https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/2035-Offshore-Wind-Technical-Report-2.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }