US Offshore Wind Development a State Matter, Trump Has Little Say In It

Authorities

November 11, 2016

Offshore wind is a state-level matter in the United States and Donald Trump will not have any real impact on its development, the Danish Wind Industry Association said.

Even though the country has only one offshore wind farm, Danish companies see a potentially large market which can be expected to gain momentum in the coming years.

According to some surveys, almost 80% of Donald Trump’s followers want more wind turbines to be built in the United States.

“Wind energy has a good business case, and it is one of the cheapest energy technologies in many states. At the same time, wind power contributes massively to the US economy. I therefore expect that the change of power will have little effect on erection of wind turbines,” said Jan Hylleberg, head of the Danish Wind Industry Association.

Some 88,000 people are employed in the country’s wind industry and, over the last 10 years, USD 128 billion have been invested in the US wind energy market.

In 2015, a five-year agreement was signed on the so-called PTC scheme (Production Tax Credit), which promotes the establishment of renewable energy through tax discounts. According to Jan Hylleberg, it can be difficult to roll back the five-year agreement which has a political majority behind it. Should Trump want to roll back the agreement, it would probably be difficult to get around other elements that were part of the deal, including the right to export oil from the US to other countries.

People have different attitudes when it comes to Donald Trump, but one thing on which many can agree is the future US president’s ability to see good business opportunities, and the United States will have a considerable wind energy market in the future, the Association said.