Offshore Wind Industry

Offshore wind (OSW) energy development is a key priority for North Carolina, and there are many opportunites opening up for wind developers, manufacturers, and business suppliers - not to mention local communities in our state. With the second-highest offshore wind net technical energy potential in the United States, North Carolina is well-positioned to participate in this rapidly growing global industry. Applying the best practices and lessons learned from the European Union, this industry is expected to create a $140 billion supply chain and tens of thousands new jobs in the United States by 2035.

NCTowers | Taskforce for Offshore Wind

Governor Cooper's taskforce to advance offshore wind energy projects, the North Carolina Taskforce for Offshore Wind Economic Resource Strategies, or NCTowers, publishes information about its work and meetings elsewhere on our website.

OSW Supply Chain & Infrastructure Assessments Report

Building North Carolina's OSW Supply Chain

Report press release

This report examines North Carolina’s opportunity with the OSW industry, with a particular emphasis on the industry's supply chain needs and the state's position and potential manufacturing role in the industry. The report offers a variety of assessments and recommendations, including:

An estimate of the market opportunity for the U.S. East Coast (investment impact)
The importance of industry anchor companies and their role with regard to N.C.'s opportunities
The role of N.C.'s strength as a manufacturing center and ways to take advantage of this strength
A review of the state's logistics network and ports from the viewpoint of the OSW industry
Recommendations for actions the state might take to leverage the emerging OSW opportunity.

WEBINAR: North Carolina Offshore Wind Supply Chain and Infrastructure Report

The authors of the Building North Carolina's Offshore Wind Supply Chain report, BVG Associates, Lloyds Register, Timmons Group and NC State University (Economic Development Partnership and NC Clean Energy Technology Center), discussed the key recommendations for North Carolina and invited audience questions.

Presentation slides available here
Webinar recording available here (PASSWORD: !NCosw3/30)

To see a fact sheet and statement of North Carolina's fundamental values regarding offshore wind development, see North Carolina Offshore Wind Development Facts and Fundamental Values
For more information about the economic opportunity in our state, see Go with the Wind: North Carolina's Offshore Wind Energy Industry.
For an analysis of the economic impact of an OSW farm off the coast of North Carolina, see Offshore Wind: Generating Economic Benefits in North Carolina.
For more information about Exective Order 218: Advancing North Carolina's Clean Economic and Clean Energy Future with Offshore Wind, see Governor Cooper Commits to Offshore Wind Power as North Carolina Creates Jobs by Transitioning to a Clean Energy Economy.
For more information about the three-state (NC, VA, MD) collaboration to advance offshore wind projects in the region and promote the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic United States as a hub for offshore wind energy and industry, see PRESS RELEASE: Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia Announce Agreement to Spur Offshore Wind Energy and Economic Development. The full SMART-POWER memorandum of understanding (MOU) is available here.

(NEW) OSW Supply Chain Registry Database

As part of the OSW Supply Chain & Infrastructure Assessments discussed above, the North Carolina Department of Commerce is launching an Offshore Wind Supply Chain Registry database to facilitate business opportunities in the rapidly expanding U.S. east coast offshore wind industry. This database will serve as a platform to promote companies offering, or considering offering, offshore wind products and services, to encourage business partnerships, and to provide offshore wind developers and OEMs easy access to the North Carolina supply chain.

Supply chain components (consisting of rougly 8,000 parts overall) include everything from blades, towers, cables, steel and other wind turbine parts, as well as the infrastructure needed to bring the power ashore like transmission and substation equipment. Services include things like transport and assembly of components, construction staging and site-related work like geotechnical analysis.

Companies (both inside and outside North Carolina) are strongly encouraged to join this publicly available supply chain registry by entering non-proprietary business information through the brief (10-minute) survey at the following link:

Add Your Company Information to the Database

If you aren't sure whether your company would be a good candidate to supply the OSW industry, see this online guide to an offshore wind farm (Note: While the information on this site draws on examples from the United Kingdom, it will be instructive and useful to U.S. companies as well).

After completing this brief (10-minute) survey, if you have any comments regarding the content and practicality of this survey, please send them to John Hardin (see link to email below).

Thank you for your interest and support to help grow the OSW industry in North Carolina!

In mid-October 2020, the N.C. Department of Commerce began collecting information from interested parties that may want to serve, support, or participate in the offshore wind energy supply chain. If you would like to provide information of this type, please complete this form to submit your information to the N.C. Department of Commerce. We will add you to our mailing list and we'll contact you in the near future to provide additional information.

For more information, contact John Hardin, Executive Director of the Office of Science, Technology & Innovation.