Report outlines supply chain needs to achieve US offshore wind 2030 goal

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has released a report outlining supply chain needs required to reach the United States’ national offshore wind goal of 30GW by 2030. The Demand for a Domestic Offshore Wind Energy Supply Chain provides a broad summary of the components, ports, vessels, and workforce that are likely needed to achieve this target.   

 

With international offshore wind supply chains already near capacity, there is an immediate need to develop a domestic network to scale up this industry. This report estimates achieving 30 GW of offshore wind capacity will require at least: 

An average annual workforce between 12,300 and 49,000 full-time equivalents. 
The report also identifies challenges facing the offshore wind industry—including those from constrained port infrastructure, a shortage of installation vessels, a still-developing workforce, and limited existing manufacturing for critical components. 

 

The Demand for a Domestic Offshore Wind Energy Supply Chain is part of a larger project overseen by the National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium (NOWRDC) and conducted by a partnership among NREL, the Business Network for Offshore Wind, and DNV.

 

The project team will build upon this report to deliver a comprehensive offshore wind supply chain road map by the end of 2022. This second report will define scenarios in which all major offshore wind components are fabricated domestically by 2030 and will describe the subsequent impact on regionally distributed jobs, economic impacts, and cost of energy.  The road map will highlight key actions that would need to be taken by different stakeholders to realize these scenarios.