Strategy

The Time Is Right

Since publication of the initial Business Plan, the landscape for offshore wind development has changed considerably. While DOE and GE have shifted focus to the high demand for land-based wind development, several coastal states launched significant initiatives to attract, incentivize, and plan for wind development offshore. The regulatory context is becoming clearer with the authority granted to Department of Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) to develop a program for leasing Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) lands for renewable energy. The private sector has increased R&D into deep water technologies and investment in proposed projects. And finally, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA)-based Offshore Wind Working Group has attracted over 100 members. Energy development—renewable energy in particular—is emerging as one of the central issues in federal and state ocean planning agendas.

With this momentum, the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC) acted to move the collaborative concept forward in time to prepare for a new administration in DC in January 2009. A call was issued to the organizations that participated in the previous stakeholder discussions seeking organizations to join an ad hoc Steering Committee to organize and manage the formal launch of the US Offshore Wind Collaborative (USOWC). The Steering Committee includes several organizations that participated in the Framework and the Business Plan, and others representing the expanding interest in offshore wind energy development.

The strategic objective of the USOWC is to support or create the scientific knowledge, operational concepts, technologies, economic arrangements, and consensus-building processes that will permit deployment of commercial offshore wind facilities in the Great Lakes and the waters surrounding the United States.