U.S. offshore areas hold enormous potential for wind energy development near the nation’s highest areas of electricity demand – coastal metropolitan centers, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said.

“More than three-fourths of the nation’s electricity demand comes from coastal states and the wind potential off the coasts of the lower 48 states actually exceeds our entire U.S. electricity demand,” Salazar told a group working to lower America’s carbon emissions.

The ability of offshore wind to significantly contribute to the renewable energy targets of 2020 in Europe is spurring governments to support and encourage the sector.

As the onshore market continues to grow in certain regions and move slowly towards saturation in others, offshore wind is expected to form a greater part of the pie from the meager 2% that it is now. Onshore wind will always occupy a major share of the wind energy market. However, Frost & Sullivan expects offshore wind to grow from an insignificant part of the pie to a more substantial contributor of electricity generated from wind by 2020. According to Frost & Sullivan estimates, installed capacity of offshore wind is expected to grow from 1,276 MW in 2008 to 18,769 MW by 2015.

DUBLIN, Ireland – Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c88388) has announced the addition of Offshore Wind Power Market Potential to their offering.

Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into useful forms, such as electricity, using wind turbines. In windmills, wind energy is directly used to crush grain or to pump water. At the end of 2007, worldwide capacity of wind-powered generators was 94.1 gigawatts. Although wind currently produces just over 1% of worldwide electricity use, it accounts for approximately 19% of electricity production in Denmark, 9% in Spain and Portugal, and 6% in Germany and the Republic of Ireland (2007 data). Globally, wind power generation increased more than fivefold between 2000 and 2007.