After last month’s record-breaking $405m in winning bids collected by the US government for the offshore wind lease areas in federal waters south of Massachusetts, many are taking a second look at what this level of investment means for the industry as a whole.

Clearly, the results indicate unprecedented interest in the US offshore market, and developers — including oil & gas companies such as Shell — have demonstrated a strong appetite to grow their offshore wind portfolio.

Now that the bids are in, we need to keep the momentum going to support more private investment and grow the offshore wind market. The federal government has a critically important role in this, even beyond managing the wind leases in US waters. In the same way that a business will reinvest its profits to finance its further growth, the federal government should also reinvest some of its lease proceeds back into the sector to support the domestic supply chain and port infrastructure.

A quick example: Three-quarters of last week's auction proceeds would finance the building of a Jones Act-compliant wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV). Government support to make this highly specialised, expensive WITV available to all developers would do wonders to accelerate the expansion of the industry.

Under the direction of a congressional oversight panel, this federal financial support can be dedicated to address different needs and private sector funding gaps as the industry develops. Such federal support would not need to remain permanent and could be phased out over time as the industry gets more firmly on its feet.

Such a congressional committee would allow the federal policy-makers to become more engaged in the US offshore wind sector, not only in terms of energy generation, but also in terms of the equally important economic development aspects such as supply chain, port and grid infrastructure, job creation, manufacturing and exports.

The Massachusetts auctions underscore the tremendous opportunity that US offshore wind holds for our country. Now it is incumbent upon the federal government to accelerate its investment and make the US a global leader in this sector. Only then will our country benefit from the full potential that offshore wind has to offer.

Liz Burdock is president and CEO of the US-based Business Network for Offshore Wind