Advancing Wind Energy In the Southeast To Bring Economic Benefit to Ratepayers, Residents, Utilities, and Industry

Biden-Harris Administration Announces RWE As Provisional Winner of Lake Charles Lease Area

Raleigh, N.C. – The Department of the Interior today announced the results of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) offshore wind auction off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico. RWE Offshore US Gulf, LLC is the provisional winner of the Lake Charles Lease Area…

ACP Offshore

October 3-4, 2023   |   Boston, MA   |   Hynes Convention Center

Offshore wind is a once-in-a-generation opportunity and its momentum forward continues leading into ACP’s Offshore WINDPOWER Conference & Exhibition this fall. The event has cultivated a dedicated and thriving global community of top developers and experts. As more steel goes in the water, this event will only continue to grow in value and scope.

Offshore Wind in the Southeast

According to the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia have 82% of the East Coast resource in shallow water and more than 12 miles offshore and 45% of the total East Coast offshore wind resource.

Proximity to the warm water of the Gulf Stream to the coast, especially off North Carolina, creates a highly energetic microclimate with higher wind speeds

A gently sloping continental shelf allows for the more cost competitive fixed-bottom structure wind turbines to be placed farther away from the coast, especially compared to the North. The greater the distance from shore, the stronger the wind resource.

The Southeast Leads In Offshore Wind

27 miles off the coast of Virginia Dominion Energy is building the largest offshore wind project in the United States. At 176 turbines, Dominion’s CVOW project will generate 2.6gw of carbon free energy. Enough to power over 660,000 homes!

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Supply Chain Map

The Southeastern Wind Coalition has worked with the American Wind Energy Association and the Solar Center at NC State to create a Wind Industry Supply Chain Asset Map for the Southeast region. This project maps all of the companies and facilities in the region that currently supply or could supply products and services to the wind industry. This is a living map and we highly encourage wind industry contacts to participate!

Land Based Wind In The Southeast

 The first and only large-scale project in the Southeast is Avangrid’s Amazon Wind Farm US East (AWFUSE). A 208 MW wind farm in northeast North Carolina, the project reached full commercial operation in February 2017.

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Land Based Wind

Despite having few utility-scale wind energy installations, there are significant land-based wind resources in the Southeast. Technological advancements such as longer blade lengths and taller towers are opening up areas in the Southeast for wind development that were previously thought to be unviable by allowing developers to access faster wind speeds at higher altitude.

States We Work In

Our work at the Southeastern Wind Coalition covers the entire southeastern region, with a particular focus on the highlighted states. Click to learn more about our work.