Offshore Wind for N.C.
North Carolina has more potential for offshore wind than any Atlantic state. Combine that with our world-class research institutions and existing green energy incentives, and North Carolina can chart a clean energy future, with offshore wind at the forefront.
North Carolina’s wind blows strong
The winds off North Carolina’s coast powered the Wright Brothers’ first flight in 1903, and they’ve been going strong ever since. In fact, just over 100 years after the first flight, converting just a fraction of the winds off our shores to energy could provide all of North Carolina’s energy needs.
North Carolina moving backwards on energy?
Despite our enormous potential for offshore wind energy, too many in North Carolina’s General Assembly are focused on the energy sources of the past — which pollute the air and water and could threaten our beaches with devastating toxic spills. Republican legislators are pushing onshore and offshore drilling and eschewing clean energy sources like offshore wind in their so-called ‘Energy Jobs Act
North Carolina can make history, again
The Wright Brothers’ took a giant leap forward when they took off at Kitty Hawk 108 years ago. North Carolina has an enormous opportunity to do the same with offshore wind, making our state not only “first in flight” but “first in wind.”
Last summer, Gov. Perdue vetoed a bill that focused on dirty energy sources in part because it did nothing for clean energy in North Carolina. Instead, she created the Offshore Wind Economic Task Force to examine how to best promote offshore wind in our state. Now is the time for the General Assembly to follow the Governor’s lead and focus on North Carolina’s energy future, not on energy sources of the past.
That is why Environment North Carolina is calling on the governor and General Assembly to take advantage of North Carolina’s offshore wind potential. It’s time to make history, again.
Click here to join our campaign.
Urge the governor to make offshore wind a priority for North Carolina.
Key Facts
- Just a fraction of the wind energy resources off North Carolina's coast would help the state meet 20% of its energy needs.
- North Carolina has more wind off its shores than any other state on the Atlantic coast.
- According to the Department of Energy, North Carolina has the potential to gain 10,000-20,000 new offshore wind manufacturing jobs.