Welcome to the USOWC

The mission of the US Offshore Wind Collaborative (USOWC) is to address the technical, environmental, economic and regulatory issues necessary to catalyze the sustainable development of offshore wind energy in the waters of the United States.

The US Offshore Wind Collaborative (USOWC) is an interdisciplinary, non-profit organization created to help the United States harness its vast offshore wind resources. The USOWC provides a forum for information-sharing, problem-solving, and capacity-building among government, industry, academia, energy, and environment advocates with the goal of realizing the great potential for coastal and Great Lakes wind to contribute to local clean energy production, climate change mitigation, and jobs-creation.

In 2009 the USOWC officially incorporated as a 501(c)3 non-profit with a nine member Board and a new Executive Director (click here for bios). The Board represents a diverse group of offshore wind energy stakeholders, and includes four new members in addition to members of the original USOWC Steering Committee. The USOWC now has an office in the Cambridge Innovation Center at 1 Broadway, Cambridge, MA. To support the transition to fully independent operation, startup funding has come from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MCEC), along with program funding from the Energy Foundation.

The USOWC is actively seeking opportunities for collaboration and partnership. We will be putting out a call for membership on a new USOWC Advisory Council in the near future, to help refine and execute our work plan. The USOWC is also searching for partners to assist in launching a new content-driven website that will serve as an information clearinghouse for the US offshore wind industry. This current website is a work in progress.

To sign up for the USOWC mailing list please email your contact information to info@usowc.org

U.S. Offshore Wind Energy: A Path Forward

In 2009 the U.S. Offshore Wind Collaborative (USOWC) published U.S. Offshore Wind Energy: A Path Forward. This document serves as a resource for government, industry, and non-governmental stakeholders by offering a snapshot of U.S. offshore wind energy activity in 2009.

Offshore wind energy has great potential to address the United States’ urgent energy and environmental challenges. While this abundant domestic renewable energy source is currently untapped, there is growing political and market momentum to develop the vast offshore wind energy resources on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf and the Great Lakes.

This document provides an overview of the following areas critical to sustainable offshore wind energy development:

Regulation and government policies
Technology development
Economic and financial viability
Environmental/marine use compatibility
Leadership and coordination

Status of US Offshore Wind Development Activity by State

Click on individual states to view activities or here for a summary chart.

Please Help Us Help You. Take the USOWC WINDHUB Survey

Thanks to funding from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), USOWC is building a new web-based information clearing house – the US Offshore WindHub – to fill this gap.

The US Offshore WindHub will facilitate efforts to build the offshore wind industry by:

providing a cross-disciplinary organization of available information state-by-state and from key federal agencies, providing an integrated view of interrelated activity;
developing a system for updating and cataloguing new information as it becomes available and alerting interested parties that updates have been posted; and
designing an expandable search platform that will allow queries to be approached in a variety of ways over time and accommodate the addition of new types of information.

We are looking for your input as an important stakeholder in offshore wind development. Click here to go directly to the survey. Alternatively, you can copy and paste the URL into your web browser: http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e5hyjbp7gx9idllw/start.

All responses will be kept confidential. The survey should take less than 15 minutes to complete, and will help us better understand your information needs and preferences. Please complete the survey by January 31, 2012.

We appreciate your time and insights.

Fara Courtney
US Offshore Wind Collaborative

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Recent Publications of Note

U.S. Department of Energy DRAFT Offshore Wind Strategic Workplan.

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