Multicriteria models provide enhanced insight for siting US offshore wind

Offshore wind can be a key contributor to energy system decarbonization, but its deployment in certain regions has been slow, partly due to opposition from disparate interests. Failure to sufficiently address the concerns of external stakeholders could continue to hamper deployment. Here, we use a multi criteria model to assess all possible sites in a 2 km × 2 km grid of all potential locations in continental US federal waters, contrasting the perspectives of developers and other stakeholders. Our model elucidates how developers and policymakers could better approach future deployment. First, while developers prefer larger plants, we find that these facilities are more fragile-they are sensitive to location, and their impacts are more uncertain than smaller plants. Second, there is 600 GW of capacity where both developer and stakeholder interests align-developing these locations should be prioritized. Third, there are few areas on the US West Coast where developer and stakeholder preferences align, suggesting a need to reduce stakeholder-plant interactions or locate facilities in deeper waters than current technology allows.