Editorial: Biden's offshore wind plan a boost for NC

Wednesday, March 31, 2021 -- It is a White House initiative that could be custom-made for North Carolina. President Joseph Biden announced a plan to generate 30-gigawatts of east coast offshore wind power by the end of the decade. He will speed up permitting, provide low-interest loans, fund improvements to ports and pump more money into research and development resulting in the creation of "thousands of jobs." This announcement comes a month after the state released details of a study that showed N.C. was in a strong position to capture a good bit of the more than $100 billion that is expected to be invested in developing offshore wind over the next 15 years.

Posted 9:00 a.m. Mar 31, 2021 — Updated 9:00 a.m. Mar 31, 2021

CBC Editorial: Wednesday, March 31, 2021; Editorial #8653

The following is the opinion of Capitol Broadcasting Company.

It is a White House initiative that could be custom-made for North Carolina.

President Joseph Biden announced a plan to generate 30-gigawatts of east coast offshore wind power by the end of the decade. That would be enough to power more than 10 million homes. He will speed up permitting, provide low-interest loans, fund improvements to ports and pump more money into research and development resulting in the creation of “thousands of jobs.”

This announcement comes a month after the state Department of Commerce released details of a study that showed the state was in a strong position to capture a good bit of the more than $100 billion that is expected to be invested in developing offshore wind over the next 15 years.

Not only is there the potential from developing prime wind energy resources off the state’s coast, but North Carolina hosts researchers, manufacturers, equipment installers and others poised to address supply chain to developers throughout the east coast.

“Wind energy means new jobs for North Carolinians,” said state Commerce Secretary Machelle Sanders when the report was released. “Just like biotechnology was for us many years ago, today clean energy represents an industry of the future and North Carolina always embraces the future.”

The state has taken several key steps to put itself in position to benefit from Biden’s initiative. Already federal authorities have under lease for development an offshore area, the “Kitty Hawk Wind Energy Area” about 27 miles from Corolla. It is estimated to be able to support 2,500 megawatts of electricity generation, -- enough to power about 700,000 homes.

Last fall, Gov. Roy Cooper, along with the governors of Virginia and Maryland created an innovative partnership to provide “a framework for the three states to cooperatively promote, develop, and expand offshore wind energy and the accompanying industry supply chain and workforce.”

With the legislature’s short-sighted ban on offshore wind energy development expired, it is time to look at supplementing the federal initiative with incentives for the development both of offshore energy, and also encourage the growth and development of businesses and industries to support offshore wind development with tax credits, grants to universities and community colleges in coastal-area counties for research, focused education and job training.

In particular, the state Chamber of Commerce needs to take a strong stand in support of the development of the state’s renewable energy industry and push legislators to provide resources to make it grow.

“North Carolina has the largest manufacturing sector in the Southeast and ranks among the highest in the country. Many of these companies are already supplying the land-based wind industry” Katherine Kollins, president of the Southeastern Wind Coalition, said in a recent statement. That advantage, she observed, positions these same companies to seize opportunities in the expansion of offshore wind.

This latest federal initiative for east coast offshore wind is a significant opportunity. Not only does it address critical issues related to the fight against climate change, but provides a major boost to the state’s growing clean energy economy and expands job opportunities as the state looks to emerge from the pandemic.

The governor, legislature and business community leaders must offer a strong, united voice and move to take advantage of this economic development opportunity.

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