OWAP Webinar: Learning Investment in Offshore Wind: An Economic Analysis

CESA’s Offshore Wind Accelerator Project (OWAP) – in conjunction with the Center for American Progress, The Sierra Club, and the US Offshore Wind Collaborative – released a comprehensive analysis of the economic costs and benefits of developing offshore wind industry in the United States.

OWAP hosted a webinar briefing on the major findings from this new analysis, undertaken by the Brattle Group. The analysis finds that, based on reasonable assumptions of technology learning rates, offshore wind energy can reach grid parity with fossil fuel generation before 2030. It also finds that the investment necessary to make this happen would have only a minor impact on electricity rates and is comparable with the magnitude of support provided to other energy sources (nuclear, gas, oil, etc.) in the past. Given the inherently volatile nature of fossil fuel prices and their associated greenhouse gas and air quality costs, the analysis shows that an investment in developing the offshore wind resource in America to diversify our energy portfolio is a commitment worth making.