Date: 2/11/2015

The Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has developed a tool to estimate jobs and other economic impacts associated with offshore wind development in the United States.

The modeling tool, which illustrates the potential economic impact and number of jobs associated with fixed-bottom (monopile or jacket) offshore wind technology development, applies to areas of the country with waters shallow enough for fixed-bottom offshore wind technology.

Researchers worked with industry representatives in four regions of the country with shallow waters to build the Offshore Wind Jobs and Economic Development Impacts model, or offshore wind JEDI, to develop geographic-specific offshore wind growth scenarios. Results, which can be accessed in the NREL technical report, show that an offshore wind industry in the United States has the potential to support thousands of jobs, even at relatively conservative levels of deployment and domestic supply chain growth.

For example, in the Gulf Coast region, analaysis shows that in using existing port and manufacturing infrastructure, a 500-megawatt offshore wind project has the potential to support 14,500 full-time jobs during construction and up to 650 long-term jobs. NREL's analysis finds that the Gulf Coast's existing manufacturing workforce, supply chain, and infrastructure could be well-utilized in offshore wind development, as the foundations and substructures needed for offshore wind development are similar to those used by the Gulf Coast's oil and gas industry.

Offshore wind has tremendous potential in the United States to be a clean, renewable source of electricity. The Energy Department's Wind Program funds a research and development (R&D) portfolio of market acceleration, technology development, and demonstration projects that aim to overcome key barriers and help reach this potential. The Wind Program is also working with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to advance a national strategy for offshore wind research and development.

The fixed-bottom offshore wind JEDI is one of several user-friendly NREL JEDI models that estimate the economic impacts of constructing and operating power generation and biofuel plants at the local and state levels. NREL is currently developing a new, related JEDI modeling tool that will estimate the economic impacts associated with floating offshore wind technology, which is necessary in water depths where fixed-bottom turbines are not feasible.

To learn more about U.S. offshore wind R&D, read about the Wind Program's offshore wind activities and portfolio of projects.

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