AWEA estimates that 30,000 MW of offshore wind along the East Coast could support thousands of jobs and deliver $25 billion in annual economic, by 2030.
About 20,000 to 30,000 MW of capacity is projected, which could result in $57 billion of investment in the U.S. economy, said AWEA. The report estimates support of up to 45,000 jobs by 2025 and 83,000 jobs by 2030. However, these estimates depend on the level of build and supply chain growth.
The development, construction and operation of these projects is projected to deliver as much as $14 billion in 2025 and $25 billion in 2030.
According to AWEA, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Virginia have targets to procure a total of 25,400 MW of offshore wind before 2035
“State leaders are seeing the environmental and economic promise of offshore wind and are stepping in to provide the vision and policies to help this industry quickly achieve scale,” said AWEA CEO Tom Kiernan. “Offshore wind, following on the rapid proliferation of land-based wind over the past decade, is positioned to achieve significant growth and deliver jobs and economic output along the East Coast and throughout the rest of the country.”
The report said that offshore wind is poised to build on the growth of to the land-based wind industry, which grew from 100 domestic manufacturing facilities and 50,000 jobs in 2007 to 500 facilities and 114,000 jobs, today. Last year, land-based wind power reached more than 100 GW of operating capacity, a four-fold increase from 2008.
In all, project developers and manufacturers have announced more than $1.3 billion of planned investments in port infrastructure, manufacturing facilities, and supply chain development to support offshore wind.
