Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) found offshore wind could generate as much as 8% of the nation’s electricity by 2050, but that deployment could range widely, from 30 to 250 gigawatts, depending on how a variety of factors related to the power system evolve over the coming decades.
The researchers who performed the analysis considered a diversity of scenarios to more clearly understand how a single renewable resource can affect the country’s target of decarbonizing the power system. The current role of offshore wind electricity in the United States has been understudied, they said.
The researchers found offshore wind could generate as much as 8% of ...