FACT SHEET: Biden Administration Launches New Federal-State Offshore Wind Partnership to Grow American-Made Clean Energy

White House Convenes Governors, Labor Leaders, and Private Companies to Boost Offshore Wind Supply Chains, Lower Energy Costs, and Support Manufacturing Jobs

 
Today, the White House is joining with eleven governors from up and down the East Coast to launch a new Federal-State Offshore Wind Implementation Partnership that will accelerate the growing offshore wind industry. The partnership will support efforts to provide Americans with cleaner and cheaper energy, create good-paying jobs, and make historic investments in new American energy supply chains, manufacturing, shipbuilding, and servicing.
 
As a first step of this Partnership, the White House and governors are announcing commitments to collaborate on expanding key elements of the offshore wind supply chain, from manufacturing facilities to port capabilities to workforce development. The Administration is also announcing steps to advance a National Offshore Wind Supply Chain Roadmap and designating offshore wind vessels as Vessels of National Interest to facilitate more offshore wind construction.
 
After years of Americans facing energy uncertainty, President Biden has taken decisive action to jumpstart the American offshore wind industry. He set a bold goal of deploying 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind by 2030, enough to power 10 million homes with clean energy, support 77,000 jobs, and spur $12 billion per year in private investment in offshore wind projects. Since then, the Biden Administration has approved the first large-scale projects, established new wind energy areas, and held record-breaking wind auctions—signature achievements that advance the President’s commitment to tackle the climate crisis and strengthen American energy security.
 
These bold actions have unleashed historic private sector investments to expand an American-made wind energy supply chain. In 2021 alone, investors announced $2.2 billion in new funding, including commitments to develop nine major manufacturing facilities to produce the foundations, towers, cables, and blades of offshore wind turbines. Supplier contracts to provide materials and services to offshore wind projects more than doubled. And historic project labor agreements are helping to grow a diverse union workforce and support training programs.
 
More opportunities are ahead, including an estimated $109 billion revenue opportunity across the offshore wind supply chain this decade, and East Coast Governors are laying the groundwork to seize them. Having already set commitments to procure nearly 40 GW of offshore wind, these states are providing a strong demand signal for clean energy that will lower energy costs for American families while protecting them from volatile fossil fuel price spikes. Collaboration between state and federal governments already is helping to create good-paying jobs and establish a durable domestic supply chain to facilitate the responsible development of America’s world-class offshore wind resource. The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to further partnering with states to maximize benefits to American workers and communities.
 
That’s why today at the White House, alongside labor and industry leaders, Governors will join National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, Deputy Secretary of Transportation Polly Trottenberg, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Administrator Rick Spinrad to:

• Launch the Federal-State Offshore Wind Implementation Partnership: Eleven leading states along the East Coast will participate in this new Partnership, a first-of-its-kind forum for collaboration between federal and state officials to accelerate offshore wind progress. The partners will work together to build  a strong, U.S.-based supply chain for offshore wind, grow a skilled U.S. workforce, and build on work to address important regional matters such as transmission and interconnection, fishing and other ocean co-use issues, and other key priorities. The Federal-State Partnership will look to expand to the West Coast and the Gulf of Mexico as offshore wind energy projects develop in those regions.
  
• Leverage State and Federal Actions to Strengthen the U.S. Offshore Wind Supply Chain: As a first step of this new Partnership, the Biden Administration and Governors are endorsing a set of federal, state, and mutual commitments to expand key elements of the supply chain, including manufacturing facilities for offshore wind components, port capabilities, logistics networks needed to install projects, and workforce development to fill good-paying jobs. Working together, federal and state partners will track progress, anticipate future needs, and collaborate on a regional and national basis.
  
• Advance the National Offshore Wind Supply Chain Roadmap: The Department of Energy, along with New York and Maryland, is providing funding to develop a comprehensive offshore wind supply chain roadmap, through a collaboration led by the National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium and with partners including the Business Network for Offshore Wind. As part of this effort, in March 2022 the National Renewable Energy Laboratory released a report on supply chain needs, including manufactured components, ports, and vessels, to deploy 30 GW by 2030. Today, Secretary Granholm will announce a July workshop for stakeholders, including state officials, to provide input on a roadmap, for release later this year, laying out actions to meet these supply chain needs.
  
• Announce Priority Financing for Offshore Wind Vessels: Constructing offshore wind projects requires specialized installation vessels, and projections from the National Offshore Wind Supply Chain Roadmap show that U.S. and global vessel supply will need to increase to meet and accelerate offshore wind deployment. Today, the Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) is announcing the designation of offshore wind vessels as Vessels of National Interest for support through the Federal Ship Financing Program, giving these applications priority for review and funding. The program assists the domestic shipbuilding industry, providing support for U.S. shipyards to modernize their facilities, to build and retrofit vessels, and to assist U.S shipowners to cost-effectively obtain domestically produced new vessels.

Today’s announcements build on the President Biden’s leadership in launching the American offshore wind industry. His Administration has already:

• Approved the nation’s first two commercial-scale offshore wind projects, Vineyard Wind and South Fork Wind, both now under construction and being built by union labor. The Department of the Interior (DOI) initiated the review of an additional 10 projects that, if approved, represent 22 GW of clean new energy for the nation.
  
• Announced an ambitious leasing strategy for the DOI to hold up to seven offshore wind auctions by 2025—two of which were held earlier this year—including areas in Gulf of Maine, New York Bight, Central Atlantic, and Gulf of Mexico, as well as offshore the Carolinas, California, and Oregon.
  
• Held a record-breaking wind lease sale in the New York Bight, bringing in $4.37 billion in winning bids for areas with the potential to power nearly two million homes. DOI  also joined with New York and New Jersey to launch a shared vision on offshore wind supply chain development, with a focus on delivering benefits to underserved communities. The Federal-State Offshore Wind Implementation Partnership will build on these efforts.
  
• Utilized Lease Provisions to Leverage Union Jobs and Supply Chain Development to Accelerate Wind Development: The historic New York Bight lease sale included incentives to source major components like blades, turbines and foundations domestically and encouraged use of project labor agreements to ensure that these projects are built as quickly and safely as possible. Last month,  DOI’s Carolina Long Bay lease sale included a new credit for bidders who committed to support workforce training programs or U.S. supply chain development, generating $42 million in funding.

Read more about the new Partnership and the supply chain commitments made today:

Federal-State Offshore Wind Implementation Partnership

The new Federal-State Offshore Wind Implementation Partnership is a joint effort of the White House National Climate Advisor, the Secretaries of the Interior, Energy, Commerce, and Transportation, and the Governors of several East Coast states who are early leaders on offshore wind development: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.

An initial focus area of the Partnership will be collaboratively growing a strong U.S. offshore wind supply chain. Going forward, the Partnership will provide a forum for new initiatives and in coordination with existing efforts to address ocean co-use, transmission needs and other offshore wind priorities that may benefit from additional federal, state, and regional coordination. The Partnership will expand to include Governors from the West Coast and the Gulf of Mexico as offshore wind energy projects develop in those regions.

New Commitments to Strengthen the U.S. Offshore Wind Supply Chain

During today’s White House event, Administration officials and Governors will endorse this set of commitments to solidify and expand the domestic manufacturing capacity, logistics networks, and workforce development needed for a U.S. offshore wind supply chain that creates good-paying jobs and equitably benefits local communities.

Mutual Federal-State Commitments
To ensure the development of a robust U.S. offshore wind industry and domestic supply chain, the federal and state governments jointly commit to:

• Work collaboratively to enhance the U.S. domestic manufacturing, logistics, and workforce development network to support the orderly and expeditious development of a robust U.S. offshore wind industry, across both fixed-bottom and floating technologies.
• Work together to most effectively address commonly identified high-priority gaps within the offshore wind manufacturing, logistics, and workforce network, and to facilitate regional solutions including, where possible, the use of public funds to advance these efforts.
• Engage with underserved communities, ocean users, Tribes, local governments, and other stakeholders to ensure that supply chain development provides equitable benefits and minimizes any potential adverse impacts.
• Explore aligning planned offshore wind procurements with offshore wind lease auctions.
• Support the development of a domestic fleet of offshore wind installation and service vessels.

State Commitments
State governments recognize that it is vital to facilitate and enable these offshore wind economic opportunities and ensure efficient and equitable processes so that communities can benefit at all scales. Cross-state collaboration and coordination will build a more robust and sustainable network of manufacturing, logistics, and workforce development that can realize larger and longer-term opportunities. The state governments commit to:

• Explore opportunities to use project solicitations to support domestic content commitments alongside local content commitments in offshore wind procurements, including mechanisms to prioritize manufacturing and logistics commitments that address commonly identified high priority gaps and provide benefits to underserved communities.
• Explore opportunities to take regional approaches to advance development of a robust domestic offshore wind manufacturing and logistics network and workforce that is sustainable over the longer term.

Federal Commitments
The federal government recognizes the importance of ensuring efficient policies and effective funding mechanisms to enable companies and communities to realize economic opportunities, securing regional networks that benefit all, including underserved communities. The federal government commits to:

• Facilitate timely and effective permitting and environmental reviews and advance a pipeline of projects and lease sales that reinforce strong market demand for investment in the U.S. offshore wind supply chain.
• Utilize the lease auction process, consistent with applicable law, to incentivize investment in the U.S. offshore wind supply chain, including in domestic manufacturing, logistics, and workforce development. 
• Develop, in conjunction with states and other key stakeholders, an offshore wind supply chain roadmap that identifies critical gaps and opportunities to meet state and federal offshore wind goals and pathways to meet those goals, including opportunities where regional collaboration will provide greater, sustained local benefits.
• Seek to leverage federal funding opportunities to promote a U.S.-based offshore wind supply chain, consistent with applicable law, including by providing appropriate incentives toward the Administration’s goal that 40 percent of overall benefits are directed to disadvantaged communities.

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