RALEIGH, N.C. – On Wednesday, the NC Department of Commerce announced that North Carolina has entered an international agreement to access new resources and expertise from the nation that built the world’s first offshore wind farm. It will advance North Carolina’s development of a clean energy economy.
North Carolina Secretary of Commerce Machelle Baker Sanders and Director General Kristoffer Bottzauw of the Danish Energy Agency signed the Memorandum of Understanding between the two agencies Wednesday morning. The agreement, known as the Cooperation on Offshore Wind Energy and Related Sectors agreement, will greatly enhance North Carolina’s ability to responsibly develop offshore wind energy.
“The knowledge, data and best practices accumulated by the Danish Energy Agency’s more than 30 years of offshore wind energy experience provides countless benefits to our state as we open opportunities with this growing industry,” said Sanders. “As we work to responsibly develop North Carolina’s offshore wind industry, I value the expertise and new resources this partnership brings to my department and the people of North Carolina.
“Like Denmark, North Carolina is committed to building a clean energy system and has set important offshore wind targets,” says Kristoffer Böttzauw, director general at the Danish Energy Agency. “As part of this journey, North Carolina has begun building a supply chain and workforce within offshore wind. In Denmark, we have built a wind supply chain over the past three decades which currently employs approximately 30,000 people. We are very much looking forward to sharing our experiences with North Carolina on building the workforce, supply chain and infrastructure needed to support offshore wind.”
Denmark is the global pioneer of offshore wind, establishing the Vindeby Offshore Wind Farm in 1991.
View the Memorandum of Understanding.
