WRITTEN BYElizabeth Ouzts

The proposal to legislators asks for $300,000 to study the state’s potential role in the offshore wind industry.

A small line item tucked into North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper’s $25 billion budget proposal would have a big impact on wind energy’s future in the state, industry experts say.

If approved by state legislators, a one-year, $300,000 study will analyze the state’s potential to manufacture, ship and service offshore wind turbine components: enormous towers, blades and other specialized parts that are now imported from Europe.

Mid-Atlantic and New England states that have conducted their own such assessments are starting to corner the nascent U.S. offshore wind market, said Katharine Kollins, the president of the Southeastern Wind Coalition.

“This has already been done by a number of states who are much further ahead in Northeast,” Kollins said. The study, she said, “is really just about North Carolina keeping up with other states and maintaining competitive advantage.”

While the U.S. is home to only one operating wind farm off the Rhode Island coast, the federal government has leased areas in the Atlantic Ocean that could hold an additional 14 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity, enough to power over 5 million homes. Several other lease areas are in the planning stages.

Many states — especially those with ambitious renewable energy goals — are racing to establish manufacturing supply chains and servicing jobs for all this development, creating a virtuous cycle of more local jobs, lower costs, and more offshore wind energy.

The supply chain and port study in Cooper’s proposed budget would assess how North Carolina might create its own positive feedback loop. While the state is perhaps best known for making furniture, it has a robust energy-related manufacturing sector, including 27 wind-related manufacturing facilities that employ more than 1,000 people.

“North Carolina has long been a leader in developing and supporting new industries like clean energy, and we’re a leading state for manufacturing,” said Cooper’s Department of Commerce in a prepared statement. “The supply chain study will shed light on the best approaches for our state’s existing network of suppliers and for our skilled manufacturing workforce.”

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