Offshore wind power in the United States is in the early stages of development and shifting public opinion. In 2022, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) estimated that the country has a "technical" resource potential of 1,476 GW (fixed-bottom) and 2,773 GW (floating) offshore wind power. Offshore wind projects are currently being developed along the East Coast, in the Great Lakes, and on the Pacific Coast, with a focus on areas with high wind potential.
The first operational offshore wind farm in the U.S., Block Island Wind Farm, became operational in 2016. The first commercial-scale offshore wind farm (greater than 100 MW), South Fork Wind (132 MW), began operation in federal waters off the coast of Rhode Island in 2024, with full commissioning on March 14, 2024. As of March 6, 2025, the total installed offshore wind capacity in the U.S. was 174 MW. Power from the first turbine of Vineyard Wind 1 started flowing into the New England grid in January 2024. Construction of the wind farm was completed when the final wind turbine blades were installed on March 13, 2026.
Construction was paused in late December 2025 due to a Trump administration order to pause all offshore wind leases to review "national security risks". A preliminary court injunction in January 2026 allowed construction to resume while the lawsuit proceeded.
History and background Offshore wind power in the United States began to develop in the early 2000s. The Cape Wind project, proposed for Nantucket Sound in Massachusetts, was the first significant offshore wind project attempted in the U.S. However, it faced numerous challenges, including legal disputes, opposition from local communities, and environmental concerns, and was eventually canceled in 2017.
The first operational offshore wind farm in the U.S., Block Island Wind Farm, was completed in 2016 off the coast of Rhode Island. It consists of five turbines and has a capacity of 30 MW.
In the following years, states along the East Coast, including Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York, began to set renewable energy targets that included offshore wind, creating a market for new projects. In 2021, the Biden administration announced its goal of installing 30 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2030, as part of its broader efforts to combat climate change and promote clean energy.
The first commercial-scale offshore wind farm (greater than 100 MW), South Fork Wind (132 MW), began operation in federal waters off the coast of Rhode Island in 2024, with full commissioning on March 14, 2024. As of March 6, 2025, the total installed offshore wind capacity in the U.S. was 174 MW. Power from the first turbine of Vineyard Wind 1 started flowing into the ISO New England grid in January 2024. Construction of the wind farm was completed when the final wind turbine blades were installed on March 13, 2026.
Construction was paused in late December 2025 due to a Trump administration order to pause all offshore wind leases to review "national security risks". A preliminary court injunction in January 2026 allowed construction to resume while the lawsuit proceeded.
Impacted projects included Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, Revolution Wind, Empire Wind 1, and Sunrise Wind. US$billions had been invested into these projects before the pause sent the industry into disarray. Additional projects that have not started construction, but have received Records of Decision (RODs) are Ocean Wind, New England Wind, Maryland Offshore Wind, Atlantic Shores South, and SouthCoast Wind.
Potential and targets In 2021 the Biden administration announced a target of 30 GW of offshore wind by 2030. As of 2022, the US had 0.042 GW of offshore wind power, in addition to which Vineyard Wind started coming online in stages on January 2, 2024.
East Coast There is more than 16 GW of capacity planned for the Atlantic Coast. The map at right shows leases executed by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) for the outer continental shelf off the Massachusetts and Rhode Island coasts, the first offshore wind energy area to be opened for auction, in 2014 (lease assignments as of 2022).Because of its shallow waters and average offshore wind speeds in excess of 9 m/s, the coast off Massachusetts has the greatest potential offshore wind production in the US, at more than 1 million GWh per year, followed by that of the Gulf Coast states. Massachusetts energy law committed the state to purchasing 5,600 MW of offshore wind capacity by 2035. The shallow waters off the New England coast and proximity to load centers such as Boston, Providence, and Long Island make this area the most economical for both construction of wind farms and delivery of power to favorable nodes on the electric grid.
In 2019, the New York Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act was enacted. Among other requirements, the law mandates that 70% of the state's electricity be generated from renewable sources by 2030. To meet this goal, New York hopes to install 9,000 MW of offshore wind capacity by 2035.New York has set a target of procuring 9,000 MW of offshore wind capacity by 2035. In February 2022, an auction for 6 lease areas in the New York Bight ended at $4.37 billion, with one area going for over one billion dollars. The combined areas could yield more than 5.6 gigawatts for an annual energy production of 19.6 TWh.
The state of New Jersey is aiming for 7,500 MW of offshore wind power capacity by 2035 and 11,000 MW by 2040. To achieve these goals, the state has awarded renewable energy certificates to several projects, in addition to two whose development was discontinued by Orsted.
North Carolina also has high potential for offshore wind production, with above 600 thousand GWh per year, the vast majority of which comes from wind speeds greater than 8 m/s. Furthermore, this industry is expected to add $140 billion and tens of thousands of jobs to North Carolina's economy by 2035. There are currently two offshore wind farms planned in North Carolina, one in Kitty Hawk, and one in Long Bay.
Several other states have issued offshore wind procurement mandates in the Atlantic. Rhode Island has a goal of purchasing 1,430 MW by 2030. Connecticut has set a procurement target of 2,000 MW by 2030. Maryland aims to meet 8,500 MW by 2031. Virginia has set a procurement mandate for 5,200 MW by 2034. Maine has a goal to purchase 3,000 MW by 2040.
Great Lakes
The NREL estimates that the Great Lakes have a potential capacity of 160 GW that could be generated by fixed-bottom turbines. If floating foundation technology becomes viable, an additional capacity of 415 GW could be installed.
Despite the high potential, there are still obstacles to construction and development. Both the St. Lawrence Seaway and Welland Canal locks that connect the lakes to the Atlantic Ocean are too narrow to accommodate the large ocean vessels used to install offshore turbines. All the materials must either be transported through these locks, or built on the lakes themselves.
A Great Lakes project would be the first to be installed in an icy climate. While it is not expected to be a significant hurdle to development, it does raise some uncertainty.
The turbines would have to be constructed far enough from shore to assuage concerns about their impact on viewsheds. Other issues that might hinder deployment include concerns about bird and bat collisions and competition with land-based utility-scale wind and solar installations that are currently less expensive than proposed offshore wind.
Some Great Lakes states have signed a bipartisan federal-state memorandum of understanding (MOU) to create the Great Lakes Offshore Wind Energy Consortium to support the review of proposed offshore wind energy projects. Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, and Pennsylvania are all currently parties to the MOU.
The Illinois House of Representatives recently passed H.B.2132, or the Illinois Rust Belt to Green Belt Pilot Program Act. If the bill is enacted, Illinois will procure at least one new utility-scale offshore wind project with a capacity of at least 150 MW.
As part of efforts to develop a framework for a future wind energy industry, the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed H.B. 254 allowing the Department of General Services to lease certain submerged lands and associated wind, water, and solar resources within Erie County for the development of utility-scale offshore generation facilities. However, the bill was unable to advance beyond the House.
West Coast and Hawaii Although the waters of the Pacific Ocean tend to be deeper closer to shore than in the Atlantic, experts are still curious about the region's potential for offshore wind. There are an estimated 400 GW of potential capacity for offshore wind off the coast of the western United States. Because these waters are too deep for current fixed-bottom turbine technology, development will likely have to wait until floating foundations become viable. The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory suggests that floating turbines could bring 33 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2050 once this happens.
In 2021 the Biden administration approved large areas off the coast California for development of wind farms with floating turbines.
Farther away from the U.S. mainland, Hawaii has also been considered as a potential location to develop offshore wind. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates that there are potentially 28 GW of offshore wind technical capacity that could be installed off the coast of Hawaii. However, this would also likely rely on the development of floating technology, as these waters are too deep for fixed-bottom foundations.
Gulf Coast The NREL estimates that the Gulf of Mexico holds about 37% of the United States' total offshore wind potential. Oil and gas interests have already developed a transmission network that offshore wind could potentially use to assist its development; however, future transmission planning would still be required during rollout.
The total technical potential for offshore wind energy in the Gulf of Mexico likely has a capacity of over 1,500 GW. However, potential projects face environmental challenges from the Gulf's relatively lower wind speeds, extreme rainfall events and hurricanes, and softer and shallower seabed soil conditions that will likely favor jacket foundations over more common monopiles. Future projects will likely encounter infrastructure challenges, including complex transmission planning and points of interconnection in need of upgrades. The region's complex political environment and a lack of focused community and workforce engagement to integrate stakeholder feedback into project plans may also complicate planning efforts for future proposed wind farms.
Federal regulation and incentives The Energy Policy Act of 2005 provided for tax credits and other incentives for production of wind power, authorizing the development of a regulatory framework for environmental reviews of proposed offshore wind projects. This framework allows for a process where:
The construction of an offshore wind farm involves a three-phase permitting process. First, the proponents must lease the seafloor from its owner – typically this will be Outer Continental Shelf, the federal seafloor which is leased by the BOEM under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act — but small wind projects can be constructed in state waters as well. The BOEM is the federal agency responsible for determining offshore areas where wind farms may be built in federal waters. It sells leases to qualified bidders. These leases may be awarded non-competitively, if only one proponent is interested in developing the area, or by auction. Once awarded, the lease areas can be further assigned and subdivided into separate projects.