Quantifying the Opportunity Space for Future Electricity Generation: An Application to Offshore Wind Energy in the United States

This report provides a high-level indicator of the future electricity demand for additional electric power generation that is not met by existing generation sources between 2015 and 2050. The indicator is applied to coastal regions, including the Great Lakes, to assess the regional opportunity space for offshore wind. An assessment of opportunity space can be a first step in determining the prospects and the system value of a technology. The metric provides the maximal amount of additional generation that is likely required to satisfy load in future years.

Author(s) Marcy, Cara [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)]; Beiter, Philipp [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)]