Saving Seafood

Trump administration moves to block Avangrid’s New England Wind project

September 3, 2025 — Trump administration lawyers said Wednesday they will move by Oct. 10 to vacate previous federal approval for Avangrid’s New England Wind project, a move applauded by commercial fishermen and offshore wind power opponents.

Avangrid’s owner, Spanish energy company subsidiary Iberdrola, planned the New England Wind 1 and 2 turbine arrays with a collective nameplate power rating of 2,600 megawatts. New England Wind 1 had been expected to be operational in 2029.

Now it’s the latest to fall before the administration’s campaign against virtually all forms of U.S. renewable energy development. News of the Department of Justice legal filing in the District of Columbia federal court was hailed by the New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association.

“This is a great win for fishermen, New England’s coast, coastal communities, and endangered wildlife,” said Dustin Delano, NEFSA’s chief operating officer. “Unlike the Biden administration, which burdened the fishing industry with rushed wind lease projects, fishing bans, and overregulation, President Trump is prioritizing restoration and resilience.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NORTH CAROLINA: Dominion Energy to acquire offshore wind lease in $160M deal near Kitty Hawk, N.C.

July 10, 2024 — Dominion Energy is set to acquire an offshore wind lease from Avangrid, Inc., near Kitty Hawk, N.C., for approximately $160 million providing another potential option to meet the growing demand for electric use.

Virginia Electric and Power Company, a subsidiary of Dominion, announced the agreement this week.

If approved by regulators and constructed, the offshore facility would have a capacity of 800 MW, enough capacity to serve 200,000 homes and businesses, and the project would connect to the company’s transmission grid.

Read the full article at Augusta Free Press

Glauconite poses challenge to another offshore wind farm project

May 19, 2024 — Another wind project on the East Coast may face challenges with turbine installation due to glauconite, a soil that crushes under high pressure.

Preliminary geotechnical analysis for New England Wind, an Avangrid project, showed a risk of turbine pile foundation refusal in 50 of nearly 130 turbine locations, or about 40%, according to 2023 records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

In response to interview requests, an Avangrid spokesperson in a written statement said the company has a “well-informed understanding of the conditions in its lease area, including the presence of glauconite.”

“Avangrid does not expect the presence of glauconite to result in any pile refusals in its New England Wind 1 project, but has considered the potential for pile refusals within its New England Wind 2 development plans,” said Avangrid spokesperson Craig Gilvarg.

Records show BOEM asked Avangrid whether glauconite is a concern in what’s now the New England Wind lease. Avangrid responded in early 2023 that glauconite is present within the expected pile penetration depth and “may present some challenges,” but is “not anticipated to be a significant concern.”

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light

Why U.S. Offshore Wind Power is Struggling

May 13, 2024 — America’s first large-scale offshore wind farms began sending power to the Northeast in early 2024, but a wave of wind farm project cancellations and rising costs have left many people with doubts about the industry’s future in the U.S.

Several big hitters, including Ørsted, Equinor, BP and Avangrid, have canceled contracts or sought to renegotiate them in recent months. Pulling out meant the companies faced cancellation penalties ranging from US$16 million to several hundred million dollars per project. It also resulted in Siemens Energy, the world’s largest maker of offshore wind turbines, anticipating financial losses in 2024 of around $2.2 billion.

Altogether, projects that had been canceled by the end of 2023 were expected to total more than 12 gigawatts of power, representing more than half of the capacity in the project pipeline.

So, what happened, and can the U.S. offshore wind industry recover?

I lead UMass Lowell’s Center for Wind Energy Science Technology and Research WindSTAR and Center for Energy Innovation and follow the industry closely. The offshore wind industry’s troubles are complicated, but it’s far from dead in the U.S., and some policy changes may help it find firmer footing.

Read the full article at the Maritime Executive

Avangrid avoids $1 billion write-off after ending plans to build CT’s Park City Wind farm

October 28, 2023 — Avangrid reported Thursday that in canceling its Park City Wind farm for Connecticut, it sidestepped more than $1 billion in write-offs as projected costs outstripped revenue it expected under a power purchase agreement with the state.

Avangrid, a subsidiary of Spain-based Iberdrola, has its headquarters in Orange. Avangrid’s subsidiaries include United Illuminating, which owns power lines that provide electricity in the Bridgeport and New Haven metropolitan areas. UI sued the state in September after regulators denied a rate increase it had sought.

Avangrid also owns Central Maine Power, which has its headquarters in Auburn where officials issued a “shelter in place” advisory after the overnight mass shootings in adjacent Lewiston. Just after 9 a.m. on Thursday, CMP alerted customers it would coordinate with local law enforcement in responding to any outages Thursday morning.

“We have many Central Maine Power employees in Lewiston and all over Maine who are likely severely impacted by this horrible act of senseless violence,” said Avangrid CEO Pedro Azagra, speaking Thursday morning on a conference call with investment analysts. “We are monitoring the situation very closely and we are prepared to provide every resource available to our employees and our affected communities. Our hearts and thoughts from all of us at CMP, Avangrid and Iberdrola are with the Lewiston community in this difficult time.”

Avangrid unilaterally pulled the plug on the Park City Wind farm several weeks ago, as the cost of construction outstripped revenue projections from a power purchase agreement with the state of Connecticut. The companies had aimed to start construction by 2026.

In August, Avangrid restarted construction of a transmission line through Maine to feed electricity to the New England grid from hydropower plants in Canada, after a court decision in its favor. At 1,200 megawatts, the New England Clean Energy Connect lines would deliver 50 percent more power than Park City Wind at optimal wind conditions.

Read the full article at Stamford Advocate

Major wind project secures key federal approval

July 1, 2021 — Park City Wind, a second major wind project put forward by Orange-based Avangrid, is a step closer to reality after getting a key approval from federal regulators.

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issued approval to go ahead with an environmental impact study for Park City Wind, an 804-megawatt offshore project under development by Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.

“This is another important milestone for Avangrid’s portfolio of offshore wind projects,” said CEO Dennis Arriola. “We look forward to working with BOEM, the Lamont Administration, community leaders and our partners to successfully develop Park City Wind and deliver clean energy to our home state of Connecticut.”

If completed, Park City Wind would be the state’s largest offshore wind project and has a commitment from the state to buy its electricity.

Read the full story at New Haven BIZ

Biden administration puts Vineyard Wind energy project back on track

February 4, 2021 — The long-delayed Vineyard Wind offshore project has been put back on track by the Biden administration.

In one of her first actions as the new director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Amanda Lefton pledged on Wednesday to conduct a “robust and timely” review of Vineyard Wind and essentially resume the permitting process where it left off in December. That’s when the developers of Vineyard Wind withdrew their proposal for a wind farm that could generate 800 megawatts of electricity, enough power for more than 400,000 homes, to be built about 12 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard. Soon after Joe Biden became president last month, the developers rescinded their withdrawal and requested that BOEM resume its review.

Vineyard Wind, a joint venture of Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, was to be the first major offshore wind farm in the United States. It would be financed through contracts with three major Massachusetts electric utilities. But the project ran into delays under the Trump administration, after commercial fishermen raised concerns that the giant turbines would be hazardous to their work.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

Permitting for big U.S. offshore wind farm will resume ‘very, very soon’: Avangrid CEO

January 21, 2021 — The developer of the first major U.S. offshore wind farm said on Wednesday it will soon apply for a federal permit from President Joe Biden’s administration, after former President Donald Trump’s government abruptly canceled its initial application last month.

Vineyard Wind will resubmit its construction plan to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management “very very soon,” Avangrid Inc CEO Dennis Arriola said in an interview, without specifying an exact date. “We believe that the pause button is going to come off and we’re going to continue right where we were,” he said.

Biden has pledged to boost development of renewable energy as part of a sweeping plan to fight climate change and create jobs, and offshore wind proponents expect the nascent U.S. industry to experience dramatic growth.

Vineyard Wind is a joint venture between power company Avangrid, a unit of Spain’s Iberdrola, and Denmark’s Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. Once constructed, the project 15 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard is expected to provide power to more than 400,000 Massachusetts homes.

Read the full story at Reuters

Vineyard Wind will use GE turbines for its massive project off Martha’s Vineyard

December 2, 2020 — Vineyard Wind LLC said Tuesday that it has picked General Electric to provide the turbines for what would be the first large-scale offshore wind farm in the United States, a major step forward for the long-delayed project.

The wind farm developer, a joint venture owned by Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, had originally planned to install turbines from the manufacturer MHI Vestas in waters about 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard.

But the federal permitting delays that have beset the $3 billion project and the expiration of a contract with MHI Vestas prompted Vineyard Wind to reimagine the layout of the wind farm. Instead of 84 towers, Vineyard Wind’s first project will consist of 62 of Boston-based GE’s Haliade-X towers, the most powerful offshore-wind turbines on the market.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

Wind farm off the coast of North Carolina getting closer to reality

March 5, 2020 — The possibility of a wind farm off the Carolina outer banks is closer to being a reality as the company behind the first leased tract has taken a big step forward.

Three years after submitting the winning bid for what’s known as the Kitty Hawk tract off the coast, Avangrid is ready for the next round of paperwork.

Company spokesman Paul Copleman confirmed the news, calling it a great step that “enables us to move forward with the next round of data gathering and resources assessment, including deploying a buoy to gather meteorological and ocean data.”

Read the full story at WSOC