Analyzing the Potential for Interstate Collaboration to Catalyze the Offshore Wind Industry in the U.S. Southeast
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2020-05
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Abstract
The U.S. Southeastern states of Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina possess the resource potential, port infrastructure, and interest from developers necessary to become a hotbed for offshore wind development activity moving forward. Despite this potential however, many key challenge areas exist that would either hinder or prevent the full development of a sustainable industry in the region. This Capstone project has utilized interviews of industry experts to both identify these key challenge areas as well as discuss the efficacy of interstate collaborative models as a solution to overcoming these challenges. Reviews of existing literature were also used to ground-truth information provided by sources.
This project has found that while the three states host vastly different offshore wind development landscapes, prevailing key challenges exist in communication and outreach around offshore wind developments in the region, managing conflicting uses, and identification of collective needs and assets in the regional supply chain. Research has also found that an informal, regulatory model of interstate collaboration similar to the former Governors’ South Atlantic Alliance is better suited to address these challenges over a more formal public authority model such as a power authority.
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offshore wind, southeast, interstate collaboration