(Bloomberg) —
The Biden administration on Thursday approved plans for a 2-gigawatt wind farm in waters near Maryland’s coast, marking the 10th commercial-scale offshore turbine project to win the US government’s authorization.
The US Wind Inc. project is set to be built in three phases, ultimately including as many as 114 wind turbines roughly 9 nautical miles off the Maryland coast and Sussex County, Delaware.
With the approval, the Interior Department has now authorized offshore wind projects that have a total nameplate generating capacity of 15 gigawatts. If they produced power all of the time, that would be akin to 15 standard nuclear reactors.
Biden administration officials celebrated the approval as a significant milestone.
“Under President Biden’s leadership, we have jumpstarted the nation’s offshore wind industry, which is creating tens of thousands of good-paying jobs, strengthening Made in America supply chains and providing reliable power to homes and businesses,” White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi said in a statement.
President Joe Biden has set a goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind power by the end of the decade. Analysts say that target is slipping further out of reach amid escalating costs, shelved projects and canceled power purchase agreements. The industry’s outlook is also clouded by concerns about policy and political risk, given Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s escalated criticism.
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US Wind’s first two planned phases at the site — known as MarWin and Momentum Wind — would together encompass as many as 77 turbines and would have a 1.1-gigawatt capacity.
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