By Mark Nardone, Director of Advocacy, Delaware Nature Society
Delaware Nature Society works to bring offshore wind power to our state. This is why:
Offshore Wind Power v. Fossil Fuels
Offshore wind power is a clean, renewable source of energy that does not contribute to climate change or harm human health. It is generated at sea, where winds are steady.
Our largest sources of energy—fossil fuels such as petroleum, natural gas, and coal—drive climate change and pollute the air we breathe.
Burning fossil fuels in vehicles and power plants emits greenhouse gases that form a layer of insulation in the atmosphere. Like a blanket around the earth, the gases trap heat, change the climate, and cause the sea level to rise.
Some of those gases are absorbed by the ocean, where they acidify the water and harm marine life. That pollution is the culprit behind the death of coral reefs and other sensitive marine environments.
On land, those pollutants also harm humans, contributing to asthma, heart disease, and cancer.
Offshore wind power is clean because it does not emit the gases that have caused climate change or the pollution that makes us ill. It is renewable because wind is abundant, unlike fossil fuels, which are limited resources.
There is no way to slow or mitigate climate change without reducing the use of fossil fuels. The alternative is to convert to clean, renewable energy sources such as offshore wind energy.
Offshore Wind Generation: How It Works
Offshore wind is generated at sea, where winds are steady, at sites carefully identified by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. These sites are called Wind Energy Areas.
In Wind Energy Areas, developers build towers to support large rotors. The wind turns the rotors, which transfer the energy to turbines that generate electricity.
Arrays of rotors are tied to an electric substation offshore. The power then flows through a larger cable on or under the sea floor to a substation on land.
From there, the energy flows across the electrical grid. The grid is a vast network of substations and cables that channels electricity from power generators to our homes and businesses.
Local Offshore Wind Power Development
There are 16 Wind Energy Areas on the East Coast from Massachusetts to North Carolina. Three are off the coast of Delaware.
Wind Energy Areas are leased to offshore wind power developers, which assume the costs of constructing their projects.
In Delaware, the first Wind Energy Area was leased to developer GSOE I for 25 years starting in 2012. A smaller area was leased to Skipjack Offshore Energy for 25 years starting in 2012. The largest and farthest area was leased to Equinor Wind US for 35 years beginning in 2024. No offshore wind projects in those areas are under construction.
A fourth WEA off the coast of nearby Ocean City, Maryland, is leased to U.S. Wind. It is tied to Delaware because U.S. Wind plans to bring its power from its Marwin project ashore at a substation on Indian River at Dagsboro.
The Marwin project is fully approved by the federal government and permitted by the State of Delaware. It needs only a conditional use permit from Sussex County to begin building its substation.
Benefits of Offshore Wind
A viable commercial-scale project of 80 megawatts to 120 megawatts of offshore wind power could supply one-third to one-half of Delaware’s current energy demand.
Unlike fossil fuels, wind is free, so the resource is not subject to fluctuating prices that determine electric rates for consumers.
Wind projects stimulate short-term construction jobs and long-term jobs in operations, with ripple effects for local economies.
Wind power does not pollute the air we breathe.
Wind power does not contribute to climate change.
Offshore Wind and Delaware Law
In 2023, the state enacted the Climate Change Solutions for Delaware Act, which sets a target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Net zero means the quantity of greenhouses gases emitted into the atmosphere is offset by the quantity of greenhouse gases removed. Delaware cannot achieve net zero without offshore wind power.
Delaware has also set a target of 40 percent renewable energy by 2035 in its Climate Action Plan. Delaware’s Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards Act of 2021 requires utilities to derive 40 percent of their energy from renewable sources.
The Energy Solutions Act of 2024 prepares the way for the state to receive and review proposals from offshore wind project developers. The law caps the price of electricity generated by offshore wind energy at 110 percent of the three-month average paid by electric customers of Delmarva Power.
Offshore Wind and Environmental Impacts
Offshore Wind Energy Areas are carefully sited to avoid the migration routes of seabirds and marine mammals.
Offshore wind construction technology and practices are designed to minimize impacts to marine life and ecological systems.
Offshore wind construction activity can impact marine and benthic environments, though the disruption is temporary.
Over time, offshore wind projects create habitats similar to artificial reefs, increasing the diversity and abundance of many fishes, seabirds, sea turtles, and marine mammals.
The extraction and burning of fossil fuels, however, permanently destroys habitats, pollutes our waters, oceans and air, and is the largest single contributor to climate change.
In every way, offshore wind energy has far less environmental impact and provides greater benefit.
To learn more, contact us at advocacy@delawarenaturesociety.org.