美联社
美国总统乔·拜登在特拉华航空公司空军一号起飞前接受媒体采访
华盛顿——拜登政府正在采取行动，大幅增加东海岸的海上风能。周一，拜登政府表示，正在采取初步措施，批准在新泽西海岸建设一个大型风电场，作为到2030年为全国1000多万家庭发电的努力的一部分。
白宫表示，实现这一目标可能意味着超过44，000名工人和33，000名其他相关就业岗位。这项努力还将有助于每年避免7800万公吨的二氧化碳排放，这是政府减缓全球变暖的关键一步。
共和国总统乔·拜登白宫气候顾问吉娜·麦卡锡(Gina McCarthy)表示:“相信我们面前有一个巨大的机会，不仅可以解决气候变化的威胁，还可以利用这个机会创造数百万个高薪的工会职位，推动美国的经济复苏。”没有什么地方比近海风力发电的机会更大了。''
她补充说，政府对尚未开发的行业的承诺“将为来自所有背景和社区的人创造通向中产阶级的道路”。"我们准备好摇滚了。"
政府表示，它打算为新泽西州的海洋风项目准备一份正式的环境分析。这将推动海洋风能成为美国第三个商业规模的海上风能项目
内政部海洋能源管理局表示，他们的目标是长岛和新泽西海岸之间浅水区的海上风力项目。内政部说，最近的一项研究表明，到2030年，该地区可以支持多达25，000个开发和建筑工作。
海洋局表示，将在2021年底或2022年初推动出售该地区的商业租约。
政府还承诺投资2.3亿美元升级美国港口，并通过能源部最近恢复的清洁能源贷款计划，为海上风力项目提供高达30亿美元的贷款担保。
能源部长詹尼弗·格兰霍姆说:“这将是一场高薪的工会工作的全面风暴，它将提升人们的生活水平。”。
距离新泽西州南部海岸15英里的海风预计每年产生约1100兆瓦的电力，一旦在2024年投入运行，足以为50万个家庭供电。
内政部此前宣布了对马萨诸塞州葡萄园风和南福克风电场的环境评估，南福克风电场位于纽约长岛蒙托克角以东约35英里处。葡萄园风预计将产生约800兆瓦的电力，南福克约132兆瓦。
拜登发誓要在2030年前将海上风力发电翻一番，作为减缓气候变化努力的一部分。大西洋海岸项目可能获得批准——这是东海岸至少16个海上风力项目的前沿——标志着特朗普政府的一个重大转变，该政府阻碍了陆上和海洋风力发电。
作为总统，唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)经常嘲笑风力发电是一种昂贵的宰杀家禽的发电方式，他的政府抵制或反对全国范围内的风力项目，包括葡萄园风。马萨诸塞州项目的开发商去年年底暂时撤回了申请，以避免特朗普政府可能的拒绝。拜登在1月份上任后为该项目提供了一个新的机会。
“几代人以来，我们一直推迟向清洁能源的过渡，现在我们面临着气候危机，”内政部长黛比·哈兰德说，他的部门负责海上风力发电。
哈兰德说:“由于我们的国家面临着全球流行病、经济衰退、种族不公正和气候危机的连锁挑战，我们必须为每个人过渡到一个更光明的未来。”
葡萄园风计划于2023年投入运营，海洋风将于一年后投入运营。
尽管热情高涨，但美国的海上风力开发仍处于起步阶段，远远落后于欧洲的进展。一个小型风力发电场在罗德岛州控制的水域中的布洛克岛附近运行，另一个小型风力发电场在弗吉尼亚海岸运行。
正在开发的三大项目均为欧洲公司或子公司所有。葡萄园风能是一家丹麦公司和西班牙能源巨头伊伯德罗拉的一家美国子公司的联合项目。海风和南叉由丹麦公司Orsted领导。
国家海洋和大气管理局周一表示，将与Orsted签署一项协议，分享该公司持有租约的美国水域的数据。该机构表示，这些数据应该有助于美国国家海洋和大气管理局的海洋测绘工作，并帮助其推进气候适应和缓解工作。美国国家海洋和大气管理局还将花费100万美元研究近海风力作业对渔业经营者和沿海社区的影响。
全国海洋产业协会主席埃里克·米利托说，到2030年，风能开发商将创造数万个就业机会，并创造超过1000亿美元的新投资，“但海洋能源管理局必须首先打开新租赁的大门”。
并非所有人都在为近海风力的兴起欢呼。从缅因州到佛罗里达州的渔业团体表示担心，大型近海风力项目可能会使大片海域成为他们的禁渔区。
Biden boosts offshore wind energy, wants to power 10M homes
WASHINGTON -- The Biden administration is moving to sharply increase offshore wind energy along the East Coast, saying Monday it is taking initial steps toward approving a huge wind farm off the New Jersey coast as part of an effort to generate electricity for more than 10 million homes nationwide by 2030.
Meeting the target could mean jobs for more than 44,000 workers and for 33,000 others in related employment, the White House said. The effort also would help avoid 78 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, a key step in the administration's fight to slow global warming.
PresidentJoe Biden“believes we have an enormous opportunity in front of us to not only address the threats of climate change, but use it as a chance to create millions of good-paying, union jobs that will fuel America’s economic recovery,'' said White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy. “Nowhere is the scale of that opportunity clearer than for offshore wind.''
The administration's commitment to the still untapped industry “will create pathways to the middle class for people from all backgrounds and communities,” she added. “We are ready to rock-and-roll.”
The administration said it intends to prepare a formal environmental analysis for the Ocean Wind project off New Jersey. That would move Ocean Wind toward becoming the third commercial-scale offshore wind project in the U.S.
The Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said it is targeting offshore wind projects in shallow waters between Long Island and the New Jersey coast. A recent study shows the area can support up to 25,000 development and construction jobs by 2030, Interior said.
The ocean energy bureau said it will push to sell commercial leases in the area in late 2021 or early 2022.
The administration also pledged to invest $230 million to upgrade U.S. ports and provide up to $3 billion in loan guarantees for offshore wind projects through the Energy Department's recently revived clean-energy loan program.
"It is going to be a full-force gale of good-paying, union jobs that lift people up,'' said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.
Ocean Wind, 15 miles off the coast of southern New Jersey, is projected to produce about 1,100 megawatts a year, enough to power 500,000 homes, once it becomes operational in 2024.
The Interior Department has previously announced environmental reviews for Vineyard Wind in Massachusetts and South Fork wind farm about 35 miles east of Montauk Point in Long Island, N.Y. Vineyard Wind is expected to produce about 800 megawatts of power and South Fork about 132 megawatts.
Biden has vowed to double offshore wind production by 2030 as part of his effort to slow climate change. The likely approval of the Atlantic Coast projects — the leading edge of at least 16 offshore wind projects along the East Coast — marks a sharp turnaround from the Trump administration, which stymied wind power both onshore and in the ocean.
As president, Donald Trump frequently derided wind power as an expensive, bird-slaughtering way to make electricity, and his administration resisted or opposed wind projects nationwide, including Vineyard Wind. The developer of the Massachusetts project temporarily withdrew its application late last year in a bid to stave off possible rejection by the Trump administration. Biden provided a fresh opening for the project after taking office in January.
“For generations, we’ve put off the transition to clean energy and now we’re facing a climate crisis,'' said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, whose department oversees offshore wind.
“As our country faces the interlocking challenges of a global pandemic, economic downturn, racial injustice and the climate crisis, we have to transition to a brighter future for everyone,'' Haaland said.
Vineyard Wind is slated to become operational in 2023, with Ocean Wind following a year later.
Despite the enthusiasm, offshore wind development is still in its infancy in the U.S., far behind progress made in Europe. A small wind farm operates near Block Island in waters controlled by the state of Rhode Island, and another small wind farm operates off the coast of Virginia.
The three major projects under development are all owned by European companies or subsidiaries. Vineyard Wind is a joint project of a Danish company and a U.S. subsidiary of the Spanish energy giant, Iberdrola. Ocean Wind and South Fork are led by the Danish company, Orsted.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday it is signing an agreement with Orsted to share data about U.S. waters where the company holds leases. The data should aid NOAA's ocean-mapping efforts and help it advance climate adaptation and mitigation efforts, the agency said. NOAA also will spend $1 million to study the impacts of offshore wind operations on fishing operators and coastal communities.
Wind developers are poised to create tens of thousands of jobs and generate more than $100 billion in new investment by 2030, “but the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management must first open the door to new leasing,″ said Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association.
Not everyone is cheering the rise of offshore wind. Fishing groups from Maine to Florida have expressed fear that large offshore wind projects could render huge swaths of the ocean off-limits to their catch.
