The Departments of Energy and the Interior announced Tuesday that they’re beefing up collaboration aimed at accelerating the development of commercial-scale offshore renewable energy projects.
They rolled out a formal “memorandum of understanding” that applies to wind power, but also to other emerging forms of offshore renewable energy that harness the power of waves, currents and tides (sources jointly called “marine and hydrokinetic” energy).
"This joint framework with DOE will bring together resources and expertise from both agencies as we pursue the environmentally responsible development of these valuable renewable energy resources,” Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a prepared statement.
The Energy Department houses federal research programs on alternative energy, while Interior — through its renamed Bureau of Ocean Energy, Management, Regulation and Enforcement — regulates offshore development in federal waters.
The MOU envisions a suite of joint actions, such as developing “attainable” deployment goals for the various offshore energy sources; harmonizing federal and state approval processes for projects; measuring marine and hydrokinetic resources along the Pacific coast and elsewhere; and development of environmental monitoring and mitigation “protocols.”
Salazar has been especially enthusiastic about the potential of offshore wind development.
In late April, he approved the planned Cape Wind project to be built off the Massachusetts coast, which could be the country’s first offshore wind farm. And he’s working with the governors of other Atlantic Coast states as companies eye projects off the coast of Delaware and other areas.
The two federal agencies, in announcing the MOU, cited Energy Department estimates that offshore wind has the potential to produce 54,000 megawatts by 2030.
