A new report by Environment Georgia Research & Policy Center and Frontier Group shows that Georgia has significant offshore wind potential the state could tap into to help meet its energy needs. Jennette Gayer is Director of Environment Georgia.
"We found that Georgia could more than meet...its 2019 electricity demand," says Gayer, "and if we were to convert everything in our economy to electricity we would meet almost half of our electrical demand by 2050."
Gayer says Georgia is behind other Atlantic states when it comes to harnessing the wind as a renewable source of energy, and that partnership with other Atlantic states could solve that problem.
"One of the things we're calling Georgia to do is set some sort of goal, make some sort of commitments, and then work with our sister states, for example, Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland. (They're) all working together to figure out how they're going to make offshore wind a reality. And Georgia is being left behind."
The organization says the Atlantic coast has the largest offshore wind potential of any region of the country; thanks to 29,369 miles of coastline and a shallow continental shelf that allows for fixed turbines far from shore.
"Georgia's electricity mix could be much cleaner," says Gayer. "We wouldn't use gas, we wouldn't use coal, we wouldn't use nuclear energy. We'd use off-shore wind and solar power. And just imagine how much cleaner our air would be."
The report, OffshoreWind for America, examines U.S. offshore wind potential by both coastal region and by state.
