Characterizing Air Quality Impacts Related to North Atlantic Offshore Emissions Sources

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Atmospheric Chemistry
• Energy Policy

Background:

• Offshore wind energy development is expanding along the U.S. Atlantic coast.
• Construction and operation of these projects can lead to air pollutant emissions.
• These emissions may have negative human health effects.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess air quality impacts of offshore wind projects.
• To quantify reductions in onshore electrical generating unit (EGU) emissions.
• To compare impacts using different air quality models.

Main Methods:

• Applied a reduced complexity tool and a photochemical grid model.
• Predicted annual average PM2.5 and seasonal O3 impacts.
• Evaluated air pollution changes from construction and operation phases.

Main Results:

• Offshore wind projects can increase local air pollution, highest near the projects and during construction.
• Reductions in onshore EGU emissions led to regional decreases in PM2.5 and O3.
• Regional air quality improvements from reduced EGU emissions exceeded local increases from offshore wind.

Conclusions:

• Offshore wind energy can offer net air quality benefits by displacing fossil fuel power generation.
• The timing of offshore wind capacity (winter) influences its effectiveness in reducing ozone.
• Model comparisons confirmed the reliability of simpler tools for impact assessment.