Elizabeth Klein, head of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, took the podium Thursday at a clean energy event in D.C. with a clear message to the offshore wind industry: Biden’s got you.
“There’s been a lot of ink spilled in the last six months or so about how this industry might be dying before it even gets started,” Klein quipped during the American Council on Renewable Energy policy forum. “I want to just paraphrase a popular misquote by Mark Twain: that the reports of offshore wind’s death are greatly exaggerated.”
The veteran energy lawyer, who has worked for every Democratic president since President Bill Clinton, was referring to the economic headwinds that have slowed down the offshore wind industry over the last year. Rising borrowing costs and inflation have weakened investor confidence, and the nascent supply chain for offshore wind in the U.S. is struggling to cope with the sudden demand for offshore wind construction.
The economic straits have raised the cost of offshore wind power, sunk plans for two huge offshore wind farms off the coast of New Jersey and led to a slew of broken contracts in the northern Atlantic from companies seeking higher power prices to cover rising costs.
