Dive Brief:
- Louisiana’s existing role in the domestic offshore wind supply chain, along with its existing oil and gas production infrastructure and workforce, will serve the state well as it builds out its offshore wind market, according to a new report published by consulting firm Xodus Group.
- The report recommends the state’s legislature establish a procurement process and deployment goals for offshore wind. It also recommends the state position itself as a “key manufacturing hub for large steel components” while leveraging its reputation as a “shipbuilding hub.”
- “It will be important to bring these findings before our state legislature and leaders, who requested the study last session, to ensure the recommended actions are implemented through inventive policies that empower local businesses and communities,” said Cameron Poole, an energy and innovation associate with economic development agency Greater New Orleans, which contributed to the report.
Dive Insight:
The Pew Charitable Trusts, the Southeastern Wind Coalition, and the Center for Planning Excellence also contributed to the report, which was released at the International Offshore Wind Partnering Forum last Thursday.
“At IPF, the report was released to a global community of project developers and manufacturers, who were surprised to see how offshore wind-ready the state was, having been mostly focused on the East Coast – validating that we have an opportunity to attract new projects and facilities,” said Poole.
Poole said that the report provided “crucial” quantitative data about Louisiana’s opportunities to grow its offshore wind sector, “especially when talking about the job potential.”
“Discovering that 60,000 workers in Louisiana are currently employed in roles in industries that are highly adjacent to offshore wind is extremely useful for economic development organizations like [GNO] when we’re discussing with state leaders and communities about the potential this industry offers in providing quality work for families here who have historically worked in energy sectors,” he said.
Coastal colleges in Louisiana, such as the University of New Orleans and Nunez Community College, have recently been building out their offshore wind programs with help from GNO, as well as companies like RWE and Norwegian wind workforce education center Energy Innovation AS.
RWE is the only company currently holding a wind energy lease offshore Louisiana, having purchased a 102,480-acre lease area in the Department of the Interior’s first offshore wind auction for the Gulf of Mexico in 2023. A second auction is planned for later this year.
The state lost “about 20,000 jobs over the last twenty or so years in the oil and gas sector,” said Lacy McManus, executive director of future energy at GNO. As a result, Louisiana has “a number of folks who have the right skill sets, the right occupational profiles, who could be redeployed into the wind buildout.”
Louisiana companies are also already engaged in the East Coast offshore wind market as part of the domestic supply chain. The report notes that “at least 15” Louisiana companies have supplied a “variety” of offshore wind services so far.
The East Coast project pipeline of 52 GW of offshore wind in development represents “considerable demand for domestically manufactured components, vessels, and an expert maritime workforce,” the report says. “Louisiana can capture a significant portion of this export market in the near-term while simultaneously building local capacity for offshore wind development in the longer term.”
The report’s authors say their assessment of Louisiana’s offshore wind supply chain found 458 distinct companies “with potential applicability to supply products or services in the offshore wind industry,” and more than 100 assets “with high or moderate applicability to offshore wind that could be well placed to support the industry following reskilling, retooling, or expanding existing operations.”
However, the report gives the state’s regulatory landscape the lowest score out of any criteria it assessed. Other criteria — such as manufacturing, workforce availability and marine assets — all received a score of “good” or better.
Currently, Louisiana has “no legislated capacity target [for offshore wind] or pathway to offtake for state and federal projects,” the report says.
