The U.S. Offshore Wind Collaborative (USOWC) has released its Offshore WindHub, an information portal designed for stakeholders in the developing U.S. offshore wind energy market.
The Offshore WindHub provides users with regularly updated information related to policy, technology, economics, and regulatory and siting concerns from the state and federal levels. The USOWC believes that the first phase of the online resource will aid in the growth of the industry.
‘The concept for having a place that's basically a digital library of information about what's happening in the offshore wind space in the U.S. at the state level, regionally and at the federal level has been part of our thinking and something we wanted to do since the USOWC started,’ says Fara Courtney, executive director of the USOWC. ‘The states have been the drivers for the market in the policy arena, planning, finding financing mechanisms, and working more or less in isolation. There were a lot of lessons being learned, but it was hard to capture them.’
The initial phase of the Offshore WindHub focuses on the Atlantic coast and was funded through grants from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. Future development phases are expected to include analytical tools and an overall site expansion as the industry grows and information needs are identified.
