Failed Trump rival bans offshore wind from US state
Law signed by Republican governor of Florida Ron DeSantis also bans consideration of climate change in energy policymaking and protects gas power
Florida governor and failed US presidential candidate Ron DeSantis said he is “restoring sanity” to energy policymaking by banning offshore wind off the state's coastline despite the lack of interest for sector development.
“We’re restoring sanity in our approach to energy and rejecting the agenda of the radical green zealots,” DeSantis said on social media.
The law goes into effect 1 July.
DeSantis had challenged frontrunner Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination but bowed in January after his campaign failed to resonate with primary voters.
Low energy
The nation’s third most populous state lacks wind power generation due to slow wind speeds and threat of frequent hurricanes.
National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates Florida's offshore wind speeds at between 5-6.9 metres per second (m/s), below the 7m/s typically required for commercial development.
Federal offshore energy regulator Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) investigated development in the state's Atlantic seaboard in the 2000s and 2010s but stopped all activity by 2014.
BOEM's wind energy areas up for development in the Gulf of Mexico don't extend eastward to encompass Florida either.
We expect the ban on offshore wind “to have minimal effect, given the low wind resource in proximity to Florida's shorelines, and the natural geography of the coastline,” said Julia Pendelton, managing director for industry advocacy group Southeastern Wind Coalition.
Florida generates some three quarters of its power needs through natural gas, with little more than 4% generated by solar in 2022, according to the Energy Information Agency (IEA). The remainder is primarily coal (6%) and nuclear (12%).
The low-lying state is considered particularly vulnerable to climate change and frequently experiences devastating hurricanes.
While Florida might not go in for wind power, the US' largest wind turbine manufacturer GE has a major plant in Pensacola on the Gulf Coast.
Power holding company NextEra, the global leader in solar and wind power generation, is likewise based in Juno Beach, on Florida's Atlantic Ocean coast.
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