The content and links below lead to the 2016 release of the National Offshore Wind Strategy: Creating an Offshore Wind Energy Industry in the United States. This strategy is superseded by the 2022 release of the Offshore Wind Energy Strategies and the 2023 release of Advancing Offshore Wind Energy in the United States, U.S. Department of Energy Strategic Contributions Toward 30 Gigawatts and Beyond. The 2022 report laid out the challenges that needed to be addressed to accelerate offshore wind deployment, while the 2023 report is the first agency-wide strategy that details how DOE can address these challenges and help meet the 30 GW by 2030 deployment target.

Offshore wind energy holds the promise of significant environmental and economic benefits for the United States. It is an abundant, low-carbon, domestic energy resource. It is located close to major coastal load centers, providing an alternative to long-distance transmission or development of electricity generation in these land-constrained regions. Once built, offshore wind farms could produce energy at low, long-term fixed costs, which can reduce electricity prices and improve energy security by providing a hedge against fossil fuel price volatility. DOE has supported a broad portfolio of offshore wind research, development, and demonstration projects since 2011. 

Realizing these benefits will require overcoming critical challenges in three strategic themes: 1) reducing the costs and technical risks associated with domestic offshore wind development, 2) supporting stewardship of U.S. waters by providing regulatory certainty and understanding and mitigating environmental risks of offshore wind development, and 3) increasing understanding of the benefits and costs of offshore wind energy.

In 2016, the U.S. Department of Energy, through its Wind Energy Technologies Office, and U.S. Department of the Interior, through its Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, released this jointly-produced national strategy to facilitate the responsible development of offshore wind energy in the United States.