Today marks the beginning of a whole new industry here in the Gulf of Mexico: offshore wind energy. The Biden administration opened the first-ever wind lease sale in the Gulf, and 300,000 acres of the Gulf will be auctioned off. Companies will now bid for the rights to put giant wind turbines off the coast of southwest Louisiana and east Texas. It’s a big day to say the least. And there’s been a whole lot of excitement leading up to the lease sale. It even has bipartisan support. And this could just be the start.

To understand how we got here, today, we are bringing you an episode from our friends at New Hampshire Public Radio’s podcast Outside/In. The episode is from a series called Windfall.

Picture this: thousands of wind turbines off the Atlantic coast, each one taller than the Washington Monument. Offshore wind is seen as an essential solution to climate change, and it’s poised for explosive growth in the United States. How did we get to a moment of such dramatic change?

Windfall is the story of a promising renewable technology and the potential of wind power in a changing climate. It’s a story about who has the power to reshape our energy future.

Featuring: Henrik Stiesdal, Bryan Wilson, and Bob Grace.

Part 1 of 5. Listen to the rest of the series here.

SUPPORT

Windfall is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In. 

Subscribe to our newsletter.

A note about our reporting

A video from the power company, Orsted, detailing the decommissioning of Vindeby, the world’s first offshore wind farm. 

How a turbine works

Written and reported by Sam Evans-Brown

Senior Producer: Jack Rodolico

Executive Producer: Erika Janik

Mixed by Taylor Quimby

Fact-checker: Sara Sneath

Editors: Erika Janik, Annie Ropeik, Justine Paradis, Taylor Quimby, Felix Poon, and Hannah McCarthy

Special thanks to Sarah Mizes-Tan and WCAI for the audio of the Block Island Wind Farm Tour, and to Vincent Schellings, Walter Musial, Michael Taylor and Dan Shreve

Music: Ben Cosgrove, Blue Dot Sessions, and Breakmaster Cylinder

Windfall Graphic Design: Sara Plourde