The United States is starting to rely increasingly on ocean wind for energy generation. Last month, the ‘Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy Consortium’ was established when US Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and the governors from Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina signed a Memorandum of Understanding to streamline offshore projects that span multiple states and to optimize expertise across state boundaries.
The US offshore market is growing rapidly. At the beginning of last year, there were five offshore projects off the coasts of the US but by the end of 2009, there were twenty. The target is 54 GW offshore capacity by 2030. At present, 83% of all offshore turbines are manufactured in Europe, which means great export opportunities to the US for European manufacturing companies and service providers.