美国下个能源繁荣领域或将是墨西哥湾风力发电

  据美国油价网2022年8月18日报道，随着《降低通货膨胀法案》的通过，政策专家预测美国的清洁发电将大幅扩张，其中包括3700亿美元用于气候和能源项目。美国下一个有望大幅增长的能源是海上风力发电。 

如今，美国只有两个正在运营的海上风力发电场，分别位于罗德岛和弗吉尼亚州海岸以外附近海域，总发电能力为42兆瓦。相比之下，位于俄克拉何马州的新特拉弗斯风能中心拥有356台涡轮机和998兆瓦的发电能力。但更多的项目正在开发中，主要是在大西洋沿岸。

政府在墨西哥湾确定了两个海上风力发电开发区域，到目前为止，这两个区域一直被确定为生产石油和天然气的区域。作为气候战略的一部分，政府制定了到2030年前部署30吉瓦海上风力发电能力的目标，这足以为1000万家庭提供无碳电力。 

作为得克萨斯州的能源研究人员，专家认为这是我们国家正在进行的清洁能源转型中一个令人兴奋的新阶段。墨西哥湾的海上风力发电为这个拥有强大能源劳动力和基础设施的地理区域提供了一个独特的机会，以帮助满足社会对可靠的低碳能源的需求。 

为什么去海上? 

在过去的15年里，陆上风力发电在美国得到了显著的发展，其中包括美国最大的陆上风力发电州得克萨斯州。陆上风力发电相对容易获得许可证和选址，安装成本低廉，资源丰富，无需燃料，低边际运营成本，这些都降低了消费者的电力成本。风力发电避免了大量的空气污染、温室气体排放和冷却用水需求——这些影响与燃煤、燃油或燃气发电厂有关。

但陆上风力发电也有缺点。在夏季最热的时候，风速往往是最弱的，此时空调正努力让人们保持凉爽。许多最好的风力发电区都远离电力需求中心。例如，大多数风电场都位于得克萨斯州西部的高原上，而且这些风电场都是在该州花费数十亿美元修建长距离输电线路，将电力输送到需要电力的地方之后才建成的。

太阳能和电池可以解决其中一些问题。但在海上发电也有很多好处。正如陆上风力发电降低了消费者的电力成本一样，海上风力发电预计也将起到同样的作用。 

超过一半的美国人口居住在距离海岸50英里的范围内，所以海上风力发电场离电力需求中心很近。这一点在美国墨西哥湾尤其明显，这里是休斯敦和新奥尔良等大城市的所在地，也是石化设施和港口的集中地。电力公司可以使用海底电缆将风电输送到工业设施，而不是建造数百英里的架空电缆，这样会引发通行权和土地使用权的纠纷。

重要的是，海上风力发电是对陆上风力发电的补充。在一个炎热的夏日午后，由于得克萨斯州西部的空气速度放缓，沿海风力抬升，有助于满足夏季电力的高峰需求，并提高电网的可靠性。 

海上风力发电市场在全球范围内已经很强劲，但到目前为止，在美国几乎还不存在。美国广袤的土地刺激了陆上风力发电的增长，但抑制了人们涌向海上的热潮。

这种情况正在改变，在爱荷华州等主要的风电大州，有更严格的限制规则，限制了涡轮机可以放置在住宅附近的距离，这推高了建筑成本，并限制了可接受地点的可用性。美国电网传输容量的限制也让风力发电电力进入市场变得更加困难。 

墨西哥湾欢迎风力发电

由于这些发展趋势，加上气候法案中增加对海上风力发电支持的措施，美国海上风电产业似乎终于迎来了黄金时期。我们认为墨西哥湾是一个特别有吸引力的做生意的地方。

与北海、北大西洋和日本沿海地区的寒冷和艰苦条件相比，墨西哥湾的浅水深度、温暖的温度和平静的海浪相对容易控制，这些地区已经开始进行海上风力发电。水深达160英尺——目前固定底部风力涡轮机的最大水深——在得克萨斯州东南部和路易斯安那州南部海岸延伸了近90英里，而在东北部的楠塔基特岛和玛莎葡萄园岛只有40英里。

与已经考虑开发的弗吉尼亚州海岸相比，墨西哥湾海底地形具有更均匀、更平缓的坡度。这意味着底部固定的风力涡轮机可以在更多的地方使用，而不是减少复杂性的浮式系统。  

重要的是，墨西哥湾沿岸有一个强大的海上产业，为油气生产商服务，有许多专业公司提供服务，如水下焊接、平台制造、直升机和船只服务，将人员和设备运送到海上。2019年，墨西哥湾的石油和天然气生产支撑了约34.5万个就业岗位。

墨西哥湾地区的风力发电场可以利用现有的基础设施。现有的海底电缆长达近1200英里，可以将风电传输到陆上。风力发电也可以纳入一个更大的能源系统，包括绿色氢气的生产和储存以及碳封存。 

促进工人和社区的发展  

我们还认为，海上风力发电可以帮助推进环境公平目标。生产更清洁、无碳的电力将有助于取代加工化石燃料并利用它们发电的炼油厂和工厂。 这些设施多多少少损害了休斯敦等美国城市社区人们的健康。 

由于美国逐渐减少对化石燃料的依赖，墨西哥湾地区的风力发电发展也为劳动力的平稳过渡提供了机会。路易斯安纳州已经开始着手制定本州水域海上风力发电的规则，并与阿肯色州和俄克拉何马州一起寻求联邦资金，以建立一个区域性的清洁氢气中心。

绿色意味着去海上 

政府对能源项目的审批速度是出了名的慢，而位于联邦水域的风电项目可能需要数年的准备时间。但在州水域的项目——在大多数地区从海岸延伸到3海里，在得克萨斯州从海岸延伸到9海里——可以更快地进行。 

这在很大程度上取决于得克萨斯州和路易斯安那州等能源大州是否看到了机会，将其作为能源领袖的声誉扩展到海上风电领域。正如我们所看到的那样，墨西哥湾地区的海上风力发电热潮将对该地区、美国和世界气候都有好处。 

李峻 编译自 美国油价网

原文如下：

Next US Energy Boom Could Be Wind Power in the Gulf of Mexico

With passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which contains US$370 billion for climate and energy programs, policy experts are forecasting a big expansion in clean electricity generation. One source that’s poised for growth is offshore wind power.

Today the U.S. has just two operating offshore wind farms, off of Rhode Island and Virginia, with a combined generating capacity of 42 megawatts. For comparison, the new Traverse Wind Energy Center in Oklahoma has 356 turbines and a 998-megawatt generating capacity. But many more projects are in development, mostly along the Atlantic coast.

The Administration has identified two zones for offshore wind power development in the Gulf of Mexico, which up until now has been firmly identified with oil and gas production. As part of his climate strategy, President has set a goal for the deployment of 30 gigawatts (30,000 megawatts) of offshore wind generating capacity by 2030 – enough to power 10 million homes with carbon-free electricity.

As energy researchers based in Texas, we see this as an exciting new phase in our nation’s ongoing clean power transition. In our view, offshore wind in the Gulf of Mexico presents a unique opportunity for a geographic region with a strong energy workforce and infrastructure to help meet society’s need for reliable low-carbon energy.

Why go offshore?

Wind power on land has seen remarkable growth in the U.S. over the last 15 years, including in Texas, the top wind-generating state in the nation. Wind power’s comparative ease of permitting and siting, affordable installation costs, abundant resources, free fuel and low marginal operating costs have reduced electricity costs for consumers. And wind power avoids significant amounts of air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and water demand for cooling – impacts associated with power plants that burn coal, oil or natural gas.

But onshore wind has downsides. Winds often are weakest in the hottest hours of summer, when air conditioners are working hard to keep people cool. And many of the best wind energy zones are far from electricity demand centers. For example, most wind farms here in the Lone Star State are located on the high plains in west Texas, and were only built after the state spent billions of dollars on long-distance transmission lines to move their power to where it’s needed.

Solar power and batteries can solve some of these problems. But generating wind offshore also offers many benefits.

Just as onshore wind lowered electricity costs for consumers, offshore wind is expected to do the same.

More than half of the U.S. population lives within 50 miles of a coast, so offshore wind sites are close to electricity demand centers. This is especially true in the Gulf of Mexico, which is home to major cities such as Houston and New Orleans and a large concentration of petrochemical facilities and ports. Power companies can use subsea cables to bring wind energy to industrial facilities, instead of building hundreds of miles of overhead wires, with associated right-of-way and land access disputes.

importantly, offshore wind complements onshore wind. As air speeds slow in west Texas on a hot summer afternoon, coastal winds pick up, helping to meet summer peak demand and improving grid reliability.

The offshore wind market is already robust globally, but until now has been practically non-existent in the U.S. Abundant land here has spurred growth of onshore wind, but inhibited a rush to the water.

That’s changing with tighter setback rules in leading wind states like Iowa that limit how close to homes turbines can be placed, which are driving up construction costs and limiting the availability of acceptable sites. Transmission capacity limits on the U.S. power grid are also making it harder to move wind-generated electrons to market.

Welcome to the Gulf, y'all

Thanks to these development trends, plus measures in the climate bill that increase support for offshore wind, it looks as though a U.S. offshore wind industry is finally ready for prime time. We see the Gulf of Mexico as an especially attractive place to do business.

Compared to cold and bitter conditions in regions like the North Sea, the North Atlantic and coastal Japan, where offshore wind generation is already happening, the Gulf’s shallower water depths, warmer temperatures and calmer waves are relatively easy to manage. Water depths up to 160 feet – currently the maximum depth for fixed-bottom wind turbines – extend nearly 90 miles off the coasts of southeast Texas and southern Louisiana, compared with only about 40 miles off Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard in the Northeast.

The Gulf’s seafloor topography features a more even and gentle slope than areas already under consideration for development off the coast of Virginia. This means that fixed-bottom wind turbines can be used in more places, rather than floating systems, which reduces complexity.

importantly, the Gulf Coast has a robust offshore industry that was established to serve oil and gas producers, with many specialized companies offering services such as underwater welding, platform manufacturing and helicopter and boat services to get people and equipment to sea. Gulf of Mexico oil and gas production supported an estimated 345,000 jobs in 2019.

Wind farms in the Gulf can leverage existing infrastructure. There are nearly 1,200 miles of existing subsea power cables that could transfer wind energy to shore. Wind generation could also be incorporated into a larger energy system that includes green hydrogen generation and storage and carbon sequestration.

A boost for workers and vulnerable communities

We also believe that offshore wind energy can help advance environmental justice goals. Generating more clean, carbon-free electricity will help to displace refineries and plants that process fossil fuels and generate power from them. These facilities disproportionately harm the health of communities of color in cities like Houston and across the U.S..

Wind power development in the Gulf also offers an opportunity for a smooth labor transition as the U.S. gradually reduces its reliance on fossil fuels. Louisiana is already moving to set rules for offshore wind in state waters, and is seeking federal funding together with Arkansas and Oklahoma for a regional clean hydrogen hub.

Green means go

Permitting for energy projects is notoriously slow at the federal level, and wind energy projects in federal waters may require multi-year lead times. But projects in state waters – extending up to three nautical miles from shore in most areas, and nine miles from shore in Texas – could proceed more rapidly.

Much depends on whether energy states like Texas and Louisiana see opportunities to extend their reputations as energy leaders into offshore wind. As we see it, an offshore wind boom in the Gulf would be good for the region, the nation and the world’s climate.