Karen Rubin, Columnist
Hardly noticed amid Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral pomp and ceremony were two key accomplishments by President Biden. By averting a national railroad strike, he literally saved the economy from collapse, while at the same time his administration launched the Floating Off-shore Wind Earthshot, helping secure America’s energy independence and a resilient, sustainably growing economy.
Each week there have been major developments in Biden’s quest for a more equitable society, but just to focus on these two: a national rail strike would have cost the American economy $2 billion per day, exacerbate inflation because of literally cutting off supply chains and result in widespread layoffs that would have hastened pushing the economy into a full-blown recession. There was hardly a mention of this extraordinary achievement.
Meanwhile, another important achievement you likely have not heard about was the launch of a major new initiative to develop the technology for deepwater offshore wind energy – a major milestone for transitioning society and the economy to clean energy in the mission to stop the forward march of climate warming – nothing shore of an existential threat.
What? You didn’t hear about it?
The administration’s actions are aimed at positioning the U.S. as a global leader in new floating offshore wind technology, which would rapidly accelerate the amount of energy that can be generated by offshore wind while creating a new industry with well-paying jobs.
The idea here is that instead of offshore wind being limited to places where turbines can be anchored to the seabed, they can be further out to sea – 20-30 miles offshore – on newly developed floating rigs, much as oil drillers presently use. The Floating Offshore Wind Shot will aim to reduce the costs of floating technologies by more than 70% to $45 per megawatt hour by 2035 (coal costs $57 to $148 per megawatt-hour).
The administration has a new goal of deploying 15 GW of this floating offshore wind capacity by 2035 -enough to power over 5 million American homes. This builds on the president’s existing goal of deploying 30 GW of offshore wind by 2030, largely using fixed-bottom technology, including in places like off Long Island, Maine and California.
“Achieving this ambitious target will spur billions of dollars of economic opportunities and avoid an estimated 26 million metric tons of carbon emissions annually,” a White House fact sheet said.
To incentivize innovators, the administration is offering a $6.85 million prize to develop floating platform technologies for wide-scale domestic manufacturing and commercialization.
The ultimate goal is to unlock 2.8 terrawatts of clean energy, more than double America’s electricity demand, which can be accomplished with offshore systems capable of operating in deep water without anchoring to the sea floor, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a press briefing.
“We think the private sector will see a real opportunity to make the US a global leader in manufacturing and deploying offshore wind designs –a real opportunity for greater energy security, affordability, and tens of thousands of good paying in-demand jobs – electricians, engineers, shipbuildings, stevadores, etc. We are making floating offshore wind a part of our energy mix, making America the leader.”
“This is an all-of-government approach to a clean energy future,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said. “We’ve never seen these resources coast to coast as we are seeing now.”
California is a major beneficiary and it couldn’t come at a better time – the combination of climate-induced drought and record heat waves pushed the state’s electric grid to the brink this summer.
“We need the power,” said California Energy Commission Chair David Hochschild. “We are expected to triple electric demand by mid-century.” California is phasing out gasoline-powered automobiles in the next 12 years and has set a goal of being 100-percent carbon free by 2045.
“We are excited by offshore wind. “One rotation of offshore wind turbine powers a house for a day – that’s the scale now. We should all have expansive sense of possibility about our ability to drive costs down. The Obama administration saw a 90% reduction in the price for solar. We can do the same for offshore wind. What makes that possible is long-term runway for industry stability to scale.”
“Oregon has been on the forefront of progressive environmental policy for decades,” said Governor Kate Brown. “We are one of six states where half of our energy is from renewables. We’ve taken action at the state level, but these investments by the Biden-Harris administration are totally and completely game changing. In 30 years of public service, I’ve never seen anything like this, and to have such an incredibly strong partner in the administration and these amazing women [cabinet secretaries Granholm and Haaland] has been extraordinary, allowing us to leverage state investments and double down on EV infrastructure. This is absolutely game changing, like what happened under FDR with the New Deal. Mindboggling, amazing, extraordinary. This administration gets it.”
But that isn’t even all that the Biden-Harris administration did this week:
The Biden-Harris administration just launched a website that for the first time provides a live dashboard to help communities see extreme weather and other hazards from climate change they are facing while also providing maps projecting how each community could be impacted in the future. The new Climate Mapping for Resilience and Adaptation portal will help state, local, tribal and territorial governments and leaders better track real-time impacts and access federal resources for long-term planning.