New Study: Offshore Wind’s Costs Will Far Exceed Its Benefits

Offshore wind expansion will hinder the urgent post-coronavirus economic recovery

NEW YORK, NY — Maryland’s approval last week of a plan to expand offshore wind’s role in supplying the state’s energy needs aligns with a trend of offshore wind expansion that’s likely to continue. But should it? A new Manhattan Institute report from adjunct fellow Jonathan Lesser evaluates the implications of increasing offshore wind’s use. It suggests that the renewable energy source is not as green as advocates indicate. Further, it’s not cost-effective; expansion of its use will yield net increases in overall electricity costs for consumers and an overall reduction in economic growth.

While proponents of offshore wind energy tout its clean energy bona fides and its potential to foster a manufacturing and economic recovery, Lesser’s report demonstrates that such arguments are invalid. The subsidies that enable offshore wind’s growth—along with the need for additional transmission infrastructure and backup sources of electricity that offshore wind presents—will counteract any economic virtues. What’s more, experience in Europe indicates that the performance of offshore wind turbines degrades rapidly, suggesting that actual costs of offshore wind projects will be greater than advertised.

These negative economic realities of offshore wind operate alongside dubious environmental claims. The cumulative environmental consequences of offshore wind projects along the Atlantic Coast—including on fisheries and endangered species—may be significant and irreversible. And the mining of raw materials that the construction of turbines requires has significant negative environmental effects as well, which those championing the green virtues of wind energy have failed to address.

Click here to read the full report.