While wind power is helping boost renewables, offshore wind in particular is increasing its market share. Governments are paving the way with higher portfolio standards and other bold steps.

Maryland recently took a dip in the water, or more like a deep dive, when it announced some major efforts to boost offshore wind capacity.

During a plenary keynote delivered at the International Offshore Wind Partnering Forum in Baltimore in March 2023, Gov. Wes Moore announced initiatives that will significantly increase the state’s offshore wind output and prioritize strategic wind energy partnerships.

Specifically, the state will aim to quadruple the amount of energy produced by offshore wind from about 2 gigawatts (GW) to 8.5 GW of power. The governor explained that his administration is also working to establish new lease areas and strengthen the offshore wind supply chain.

Toward that end, Moore cited a key partnership between two Baltimore-based entities: offshore wind developer U.S. Wind and Tradepoint Atlantic, the developers of a repurposed site in Baltimore. The partnership will build an offshore wind manufacturing yard at the site known as Sparrows Point, the location of the former Bethlehem Steel plant. The partnership will create nearly 15,000 jobs.

Danish offshore wind developer Orsted has committed to using Tradepoint Atlantic as a logistics hub to assemble advanced foundation components for offshore wind turbines using materials produced on Maryland’s Eastern Shore at Crystal Steel.

According to the Maryland Energy Administration, the state has already been on a fast track, beating its own benchmarks. The Clean Energy Jobs Act, passed in 2019, removed the upper limit on offshore wind development and required at least an additional 1,200 megawatts (MW) of projects. Two years later, the state announced it had approved two projects, which would total 1,654.5 MW and allow the state to surpass its own offshore wind development goal by more than 400 MW and four years ahead of schedule.

Lawmakers put Maryland at the forefront in the battle against climate change last year, when they passed the Climate Solutions Now Act, which established a goal of zero emissions, or 100% clean energy, by the year 2035. Moore’s ambitious offshore wind power goals are in line with achieving that threshold.