The Biden Administration is asking energy companies if they’d be interested in setting up offshore wind turbines off the coast in the Gulf of Mexico.
LSU Center for Energy Studies Executive Director Dr. David Dismukes said it’s the beginning of a long road towards the ultimate development of renewable energy in the Gulf.
“The Gulf is not one of these areas that is considered a high priority area for offshore development and a lot of things would have to fall into place even if you had relatively significant technical potentials to do offshore wind,” said Dismukes who noted northeastern states began the process to set up offshore wind turbines about 15 years ago and are just now starting to implement the program.
Dismukes said you likely could generate some electricity using Gulf turbines but there’s a number of questions that must be answered from hurricane resiliency to whether you could generate enough megawatts to make it a worthwhile investment. After finding a buyer and offering that company at least a 20-year contract Dismukes said you would then have to build transmission lines from the Gulf and then integrate them into the power grid.
“Just a lot of moving parts with a lot of capital that is tied down and just bringing that all together in an environment where it has all been done before is going to be a challenge,” said Dismukes.
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