Offshore Wind Industry Faces a Financial Hurricane: Liam Denning

The US offshore wind industry is, in a sense, an admission of failure.

Consider that onshore wind-power potential in the US is estimated to be as much as 2.28 terawatts -- roughly double the entire capacity of all types of generation operating today — and perhaps as much as 15 terawatts. Offshore wind-power potential, in the lower 48 states, is estimated at 4.2 terawatts. The latter is also a huge number but suffers one disadvantage: Offshore wind currently costs about two to five times that of its onshore counterpart, which is the cheapest source of electricity to build in the US today.

So why ...