Commentary: Before Louisiana bets on nuclear, we should look at offshore wind

Louisiana has nuclear fever. In March, Gov. Jeff Landry released the state’s first Nuclear Strategic Framework, and the U.S. Department of Energy named Louisiana one of five finalists to host a federal nuclear fuel campus in July.

Last month, the Louisiana Public Service Commission approved a program allowing utilities to spend up to $2 million of ratepayer funds studying new nuclear reactors.

The excitement around nuclear as a source of zero-emissions power is understandable. New data centers, natural gas terminals and other industries are driving demand for power and zero-carbon technologies faster than Louisiana has seen in decades.

However, if the goal is clean, dependable electricity, Louisiana should also evaluate offshore wind.

We can look at two of the largest power plants built in recent years — Georgia’s Plant Vogtle and Virginia’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project — to compare the costs and benefits of offshore wind and nuclear.

Georgia’s Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4 are the only new nuclear reactors finished in the U.S. in more than 30 years, with a combined capacity of approximately 2.1 gigawatts. Construction began in 2009, and the reactors came online in 2023 and 2024, taking 15 years to complete and costing more than $35 billion. Ultimately, the Vogtle plants came in seven years behind schedule and $21 billion over budget.

Now, compare this against Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project off Virginia Beach. Its construction began in November 2023, and all 176 wind turbines will be installed by the end of 2027. In total, CVOW will take four years to complete, compared with Vogtle’s 15 years. The project will cost about $11.7 billion, compared to Vogtle’s $35 billion, and CVOW has a 2.6 GW nameplate capacity, more than Vogtle’s two new reactors combined.

Offshore wind also comes out ahead when looking at the cost of construction per megawatt-hour of power production. Vogtle’s new units cost more than $35 billion and produce 17.2 million MWh per year. CVOW will cost about $11.65 billion and produce 9.5 million MWh. That makes offshore wind roughly 40% cheaper per megawatt-hour of annual production, and CVOW will be finished in less than half the time of the Vogtle reactors.

Wind skeptics will point out that a nuclear reactor runs around the clock while wind turbines depend on the wind. However, offshore wind provides the most consistent power during the winter, a season that is increasingly straining Louisiana’s grid.

In 2021, Winter Storm Uri forced rolling blackouts in MISO South and in 2025, Entergy Louisiana set a new winter peak record. These cold fronts bring strong winds that can be captured by offshore wind. During Winter Storm Fern this January, South Fork Wind and Vineyard Wind performed as well as gas plants and helped mitigate high power prices due to spikes in the cost of natural gas.

Finally, there is the question of who benefits. Offshore wind plays to strengths Louisiana already has. Louisiana companies with oil and gas roots helped build Block Island, the nation’s first offshore wind farm, and have worked on East Coast wind projects since.

A 2024 supply chain study found offshore wind could create 3,700 jobs in Louisiana and identified more than 450 Louisiana businesses ready to serve the industry. Offshore wind could be the next chapter of offshore energy production that helps keep our coastal communities and maritime industries working and prosperous as the offshore oil and gas industry continues to lose jobs.

Current politics favor nuclear and shun offshore wind. In August, RWE gave up the Gulf’s only federal offshore wind lease. Louisiana’s previous goal of 5 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2035, set by former Gov. John Bel Edwards, has been quietly shelved.

However, politics are constantly changing, and Louisiana should be ready when the window of opportunity for offshore wind opens again. Louisiana has spent a century proving it can be a leader in generating offshore energy. The engineers, shipbuilders, vessel crews, and fabricators who built the offshore oil and gas industry are already building wind projects for other states. I hope that one day we can leverage this expertise to build offshore wind off our own coast.