Analyzing costs and benefits of rerouting vessel traffic to open areas for offshore wind development in the mid-Atlantic United States
Date
2013
Authors
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Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
The recent emphasis on development of offshore wind energy projects has powered
the movement to evaluate distribution of current ocean activities. As wind energy
development becomes more prevalent, existing users of the oceans, such as
commercial shippers, will be compelled to share their historically open-access waters
with these projects. Here, we demonstrate the utility of using cost-benefit analysis
(CBA) framework to reduce potential spatial conflicts and assess tradeoffs between
offshore wind development and commercial shipping. Specifically, we evaluate
whether rerouting commercial vessel traffic farther from shore to open areas for wind
development would produce net societal benefits. We focus on less than 1,500 transits
by deep-draft vessels between the ports in the US Mid-Atlantic. We propose to reroute
these ships by an average of 18.5 km (10 nautical miles) per trip. We estimate that
over 29 years of the study, the added private and external vessel costs amount to
approximately $0.2 billion (in 2012$). The net benefits of the proposed policy are
approximately $14 billion (in 2012$). Considering the large societal benefits,
modifying areas where vessels transit needs to be included in the portfolio of policies
used to support the launch and growth of the offshore wind industry in the US.
Description
Keywords
Wind energy, Cost-benefit analysis, Vessel rerouting, Maritime transportation