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www.sname.org/sname/mt THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGYS OFFSHORE WIND STRATEGY CREATING AN ENERGY INDUSTR YBY JOSE ZAYAS Wind turbines installed off the nations coasts and in the Great Lakes can harness the power of offshore winds to generate electricity for homes and businesses. Offshore wind energy is a clean, domestic, renewable resource that can help the United States meet its critical energy, economic, and environmental challenges. By generating electricity from offshore wind turbines, the nation can diversify its energy supply, provide cost-competitive electricity to key coastal regions, help revitalize key sectors of its economy, including manufacturing and ports, and reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. Realizing these bene?ts, however, will require overcoming key barriers to the development and deployment of offshore wind technology?including its relatively high cost of energy, technical challenges surrounding installation and grid interconnection, and the complex permitting processes governing deployment. October 2012 The U.S. has immense offshore wind energy resources due to strong, consistent winds off its lengthy coastlines. See Figure 1. Data for U.S. coastal and Great Lakes waters indicate that the gross offshore wind resource potential is more than 4,000 GW, as shown in Figure 2. This is calculated from the total offshore area within 50 nautical miles of shore, in areas where average annual wind speeds are at least 7 m per second (approximately 16 miles per hour) at a height of 90 m (295 ft.).When restrictions due to competing uses and environmentally sensitive areas are taken into consideration, offshore wind could still supply the nation with 2,400 GW