Dept of Energy hails initiative to encourage US offshore windfarm development. As part of a planned six-year $180 million initiative, an initial $20 million will be available this year as the first step in supporting up to four innovative offshore wind energy installations across the United States. Secretary Chu said: "The new offshore wind energy initiative announced today will help to catalyze the development of offshore wind in America, supporting U.S. Offshore wind is an enormous potential resource for the United States…