Floating Offshore Wind Initiative To Help Unlock U.S. Offshore Wind Energy Potential

Sept. 15, 2022

About two-thirds of our nation’s offshore wind resource is in water over 60 meters deep. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Floating Offshore Wind Shot aims to unlock this potential through eight research initiatives designed to bolster the development of floating offshore wind energy in the United States. (Photo from Senu Sirnivas, NREL)

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the Floating Offshore Wind Shot™, a new interagency initiative to grow the amount of renewable energy available in the United States by driving the development of floating offshore wind energy.

Offshore wind holds great promise as a source of clean, domestic, renewable energy that can meet the needs of communities along the nation’s coastlines. However, about two-thirds of the United States’ offshore wind resource is in water over 60 meters deep. Floating wind turbine platforms are needed because at these depths, fixed-bottom platforms are impractical and costly.

The Floating Offshore Wind Shot sets an ambitious goal to reduce the cost of floating offshore wind energy by at least 70% to $45 per megawatt-hour by 2035, while promoting an equitable clean energy transition and creating jobs and economic opportunities for U.S. communities.

To move toward the Floating Offshore Wind Shot goal to reduce the cost of floating offshore wind by at least 70% by 2035, DOE launched eight research initiatives designed to bolster the development of floating offshore wind energy in the United States.

Learn more about the Floating Offshore Wind Shot via DOE's Wind Energy Technologies Office.