Business Network celebrates one year since Inflation Reduction Act

The Business Network for Offshore Wind, the nation’s leading organization dedicated to building a domestic offshore wind supply chain, today celebrates one year since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The U.S. offshore wind industry has marked historic milestones over the past year, including the beginning of installation on the first commercial-scale projects, the manufacturing and installation of the first domestically produced offshore power substation, and several more firsts for the domestic supply chain, which the Network highlighted in its U.S. Offshore Wind Quarterly Market Report and Mid-Year Supply Chain Snapshot.

While these series of “first” achievements were the result of years of effort by both the private and public sectors, the IRA builds on this foundation and accelerates development by directly incentivizing project development, domestic manufacturing, and domestic shipbuilding. The result over the past year has been $7.7 billion in new investments and thousands of new suppliers entering the industry.

“The Inflation Reduction Act is the single most important piece of legislation yet passed to accelerate the adoption of offshore wind energy in the U.S.,” said Liz Burdock, founder and CEO of the Business Network for Offshore Wind. “The tax benefits and funding for critical government functions are vital to growing a robust industry and will foster the investor confidence needed to localize manufacturing and suppliers in the U.S. This legislation puts the U.S. on track to meet its 110 GW goals, to meet soaring state-level demand for the offshore wind, and to keep the nation’s 30 GW goal within striking distance.”

In July, the Network released its latest U.S. Offshore Wind Quarterly Market Report, highlighting the industry’s achievements and substantial supply chain investments from April to June, much of which can be attributed to the IRA. The Network also released the complementary Mid-Year Supply Chain Snapshot, which details the progress made by the offshore wind industry over the course of the Biden Administration, including:

• A 272 percent increase in the number of U.S. market supplier contracts since 2021, according to the Network’s Market Dashboard, with 47 percent of that growth occurring since the IRA was signed in August 2022.
• A 169 percent increase in companies that have registered in the Network’s free offshore wind supply chain database since 2021, with a 54 percent increase since the IRA was signed.
  
• $16.6 billion in new market investments made since 2021 — more than quadruple the amount invested previously — with $7.7 billion of those investments made after the IRA was signed.