U.S. and Nordic leaders sign cooperative agreements on clean energy development
The leaders of the United States, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden released a pair of statements on Friday promising continued collaboration in the fight against climate change.
The U.S.-Nordic Collaboration on Climate Change, the Arctic, and Clean Energy focuses on mutual efforts to shift to low-carbon economies, cooperate in the promotion of clean energy and advance global climate action. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Denmark and the U.S. specifically targets offshore wind development, including the promotion of information sharing, policy initiatives and the transfer of technical knowledge.
“America is looking in the right places to share best practices about financing, locating, and operating successful offshore wind farms,” the American Wind Energy Association’s (AWEA) Nancy Sopko said. “There’s much to learn from [Denmark’s] decades of experience and we’re excited about the prospects for this new agreement.”
The MoU will be in effect for five years, during which time both countries are encouraged to involve non-governmental organizations, research institutions, businesses and government institutions in purposeful collaboration on offshore wind energy development.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Wind Vision Report found that the wind industry currently employs 88,000 people, supplying approximately five percent of U.S. electricity. The department has projected that by 2030, wind energy supply will have quadrupled, and the industry will be capable of employing 380,000 Americans.
