Benefits
BENEFITS OF OFFSHORE WIND
Offshore wind provides significant benefits:
- Small environmental footprint when properly sited — at least 15 miles off shore to protect birds, marine life and views
- Diversification of renewable energy portfolio reduces cost of decarbonizing electrical power generation; distinctive daily and seasonal profile increases value to grid
- One 420 megawatt (MW) offshore wind farm (60 turbines, 7 MW each)
- generates enough electricity to power 120,000 to 225,000 homes annually, depending on the wind regime at the project site and average residential electricity use in the area served
- yields impressive GHG reductions — 1,570,000 tons of CO₂ per year when replacing coal-fired power, 743,000 tons of CO₂ per year when replacing gas-fired power
- provides up to 500 construction jobs and 40 full-time operations and maintenance jobs