The real question isn’t offshore wind’s potential.

A University of Delaware study estimated Eastern seaboard wind from Massachusetts to North Carolina to be big enough to build 330 gigawatts of installed generating capacity.

The U.S. may have, according to an NREL study, as much as 4,000 gigawatts. That would meet present U.S. electricity demand even if average capacity factor is only 25 percent — and offshore wind’s average capacity factor is likely 40 percent.

The real question — and it is being asked repeatedly at the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) Offshore WindPower 2012 conference — is how soon and how cost-competitively that potential can be developed.

via When Will US Offshore Wind Be Cost-Competitive? : Greentech Media.