Capability Overview 

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) leads community-engaged offshore wind research to enable the development of new strategies, holistic approaches and tools, and timely data products that integrate community values into offshore wind development. 

Knowledge and project products will inform partnerships with the Department of Energy, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, state and local governments, tribes, regional and local planning groups, developers, and other stakeholders engaging communities in offshore wind projects. 

Challenges and Solutions 

Offshore wind energy has significant potential to advance the blue economy goals of social equity, environmental sustainability, and economic prosperity. Progress will rely, however, on a better understanding of the potential positive and negative effects of offshore wind on communities, their economies, and their dependencies on coastal and marine ecosystems, along with the diversity of populations and perspectives engaged in offshore wind planning and permitting.  

PNNL aims to address knowledge gaps in the sustainable development of offshore wind and enable planners and developers to engage communities more effectively in collaborative decision-making. PNNL's work in this area, for example, involves developing conceptual models and scalable, equitable, place-based approaches to integrate community values and considerations of ocean co-use into offshore wind development. PNNL is also working to quantify socioeconomic values of marine and coastal systems to evaluate the costs and benefits of proactive and coordinated transmission planning.   

Such advancements will help lay the foundation for meaningful collaboration and partnerships with federal, state, local, and tribal governments, regional and local planning groups, developers, and other stakeholders engaging communities in offshore wind projects.

Project Spotlight 

Offshore Wind Communities and Ocean Co-Use Study 

PNNL is designing a community typology analysis with an initial focus on the West Coast to better understand the communities that may be affected by offshore wind development. This analysis will explore diverse community needs and values, as well as develop a suite of conceptual models identifying relationships between community values, socioeconomic outcomes, coastal and marine eco-systems, and offshore wind.  

The project includes convening an expert committee with representatives from government agencies, community-based organizations, academic institutions, and non-governmental organizations. This study will lay the foundation for future research, which may include developing and applying a natural capital framework for assessing socioeconomic benefits and costs of offshore wind that could be used in collaboration with communities to explore development pathways that consider local priorities.