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One exception in the USA so far: the Block Island offshore wind farm
Photo: Brian Snyder / REUTERS
Wind power still only plays a minor role in the USA, but now the US government of President Joe Biden wants to invest more than 12 billion dollars in the expansion of marine wind farms: The goal is to generate 30 gigawatts of electricity annually by offshore wind farms by 2030, said the White House at a press conference with.
More than ten million households could be supplied with electricity from wind energy in this way.
According to the White House, the new wind farms should reduce CO2 emissions by 78 million tons.
At the same time tens of thousands of new jobs would be created.
According to the government, offshore wind farms are to be designated on the US east coast off New York and New Jersey.
The tenders are planned for the turn of the year 2021/2022.
Additional projects off the coasts of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and North Carolina are under development.
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The Biden government plans to provide $ 230 million for the modernization of ports to facilitate the expansion of wind energy projects.
In addition, loans of up to $ 3 billion are offered to companies in the wind energy industry.
So far, only 30 megawatts of electricity have come from wind energy
Only one marine wind farm is currently fully operational in the United States: the Block Island wind farm, which was completed off Rhode Island at the end of 2016 and can produce 30 megawatts of electricity.
With the planned expansion of the offshore wind farms, the output generated by offshore wind energy in the USA would increase by a factor of thousands.
The first phase of the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) pilot project with a capacity of twelve megawatts was completed last year.
The last construction phase should end in 2026, then the system should supply 600,000 households with energy.
ime / AFP / dpa
