Saving Seafood

Senate Commission Wants Answers Regarding Exposed Block Island Wind Farm Cables

February 18, 2020 — A Senate commission wants to know who is to blame and who is going to pay to bury the exposed electric cables from the Block Island Wind Farm.

The Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) said its geologist recommended before construction of the offshore wind facility that Deepwater Wind, now owned by Denmark-based Ørsted, bury the two cables 6-8 feet deep using a process known as horizontal directional drilling.

Deepwater Wind, however, relied on an independent engineering report that concluded the 12-inch-diameter cable could be buried at a depth of 2-4 feet using a devise called a jet plow.

According to CRMC executive director Grover Fugate, CRMC’s governing board relied on the independent report to approve the more shallow depth using the jet plow process.

Fugate explained at a recent commission hearing that the jet plow was preferred because it uses a high-pressure spray of water to quickly create a trench and bury the cable. That worked for the sandy seafloor further offshore, but when the jet plow encountered the boulders and cobble near Block Island’s Crescent Beach it simply rose over the impediments and buried the cables at a shallow depth.

The 34,500-volt power line from the five-turbine Block Island Wind Farm reaches shore at Fred Benson Town Beach and leaves the island for Narragansett at Crescent Beach to the north. Keeping portions of the cables buried at Crescent Beach has been a struggle for the past four years.

Read the full story at EcoRI

Ørsted/Deepwater: We’ll Be On Time

July 17, 2019 — Developers of the South Fork Wind Farm vowed this week they will deliver offshore wind power to East Hampton by 2022 as promised.

Despite the ever-present optimism, the wind farm has lagged behind its own timetable as it faces a concerted effort to deep-six the project from several
opposition groups.

First, a group of well-heeled Wainscott residents banded together and issued an explicit warning to Ørsted, the parent company that purchased Deepwater Wind: Find another landing spot for your offshore cable to land.

The opposition caught the attention of Thomas Borstrom, the CEO of Ørsted, who wrote a letter to the Citizens for the Preservation of Wainscott.

“We have always said there are two viable cable landfall and onshore route options for our project,” he wrote. “In response to your requests, our team assessed the viability of a Hither Hills landing site . . . we believe Hither Hills is a technically viable alternative.”

The ink was barely dry on Borstrom’s May 31 letter when Montauk and Amagansett residents and business owners lambasted the idea of bringing the cable ashore in Montauk. “It’s a terrible, terrible idea. It’s going to be terrible not just for Montauk but for everyone who drives,’” said Kathy Weiss, who runs Wavecrest, a 75-unit resort complex, on Old Montauk Highway.

Read the full story at The Independent

“A Big Fugazi”: Why Fishermen Still Can’t Get Behind Offshore Wind

May 10, 2019 — In Ken Schneider’s 40-year fishing career, he’s fished for pretty much everything that’s out in the Mid-Atlantic.

Now, at 60 years old, Schneider spends most of his time hunting for lobster. On this day, he’s making some extra cash building a boat deck at Leonard’s Wharf in New Bedford before his next fishing trip. He takes his son with him sometimes.

“He don’t like fishing with me probably,” Schneider says. “Somebody else would be easier.”

His son works as an engineer at a drafting company. But if anything ever happens to him financially Schneider says, “he’s got a [fishing] license and everything and if everything else goes bad he’s always got this.”

Schneider’s daughter owns part of the family business too. But now, Schneider says all of it is at risk. He and other fishermen in New Bedford will soon have to share the open ocean with Vineyard Wind. The company is building the the nation’s first large-scale offshore wind farm…84-turbines about 14 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard.

There are final federal and state permits still pending approval but it’s expected onshore construction will start this fall. And by next year, construction will move to the ocean as the over 600 foot turbines settle in their new home.

Schneider says the seismic activity from the construction is going to change the ocean floor and marine life isn’t going to stay around. He thinks he could lose over 30-percent of his lobster catch because of the construction.

Read the full story at The Public’s Radio

NEW YORK: Okay for Wind Cable Route Soil Tests

February 15, 2019 — By a 3-to-2 vote that was marked by sharp disagreement, the East Hampton Town Board authorized an agreement with Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind last Thursday that will allow it to conduct archaeological and soil tests along a proposed cable route in Wainscott.

The company, which until its November acquisition by the Danish energy company Orsted was known as Deepwater Wind, plans to construct the 15-turbine South Fork Wind Farm approximately 35 miles east of Montauk.

Separately, Eversource, New England’s largest energy company, announced on Friday that it had purchased a 50-percent stake in the South Fork Wind Farm and Orsted’s Revolution Wind as well. The $225 million deal also included a federal lease area south of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Orsted took over all three assets in November as part of its acquisition of Deepwater Wind, the Rhode Island company that first developed the projects. Deepwater Wind is now called Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind.

The South Fork Wind Farm was originally proposed as a 90-megawatt installation; Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind officials say now that improvements in turbine technology will allow generation of up to 130 megawatts. According to the company’s timeline, it could be operational in late 2022.

On eastern Long Island, Deepwater identified the oceanfront end of Beach Lane in Wainscott as the preferred site to land the wind farm’s transmission cable. From there, the cable would run underground to the Long Island Power Authority substation in East Hampton.

Archaeological test pits are to be excavated by hand to depths of up to 4 feet and approximately 18 inches in diameter, at 50 to 100-foot intervals. The pits are to be filled upon completion. The work is planned along Beach Lane, Wainscott Main Street, Sayre’s Path, Wainscott Stone Road, and Wainscott Northwest Road, where it will continue to the intersection with the Long Island Rail Road right of way. Soil samples will come from two test borings and there will be a drainage test within the town-owned right of way at Beach Lane.

Read the full story at The East Hampton Star

Offshore Wind, Commercial Fishing Industries Partnering Up In Unusual Collaboration

January 18, 2019 — The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA), a group representing fishermen from Maine to North Carolina formed specifically to interact with offshore wind companies, and developer Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind (formerly Deepwater Wind) said the partnership is the first-of-its-kind.

As development of offshore wind farms is underway off of Rhode Island and Massachusetts’ coasts, commercial fishermen have been in talks with developers to figure out the best way to build wind farms that sustain the fishing industry.

However, RODA and Orsted feel the way the industries have been engaging with one another has been inefficient.

“The fishermen are being pulled in a million directions and we’re very excited to have a more structured approach where we can get that input and give it back to the developers as well as to the government,” Annie Hawkins, executive director of RODA, said.

Jeff Grybowski, Co-CEO of Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind, agreed the new partnership will make it easier for the industries to communicate.

“It can often be difficult for a developer to find the right people to talk to because obviously fishermen are, they’re small businesses and some of them are big businesses, but there are lots of different people,” Grybowski said.

Hawkins added the goal is to have fewer, more productive meetings, however any recommendations that come out of them are nonbinding.

Commercial fishermen have raised multiple concerns about offshore wind farms, such as the layout of the turbines affecting their access to fishing grounds and ability to safely return to shore, and spinning turbines interfering with their radar navigation.

Read the full story at The Public’s Radio

Only one wind project proposed in waters off LI, filings show

January 14, 2019 — Only one of five developers who intend to vie for a New York State contract for off-shore wind energy is proposing its project off Long Island waters. The rest would be off Massachusetts/Rhode Island or the New Jersey coast, according to recent state filings.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, or NYSERDA, which is overseeing the bids and will award contracts for upward of 800 megawatts of offshore wind energy this year, said the five notices of intent to participate in the state bid represented the strongest response to any state solicitation to date. One megawatt of offshore wind powers around 360 homes. Formal bids are due Feb. 14.

The project located in the New York wind-energy area is off Long Island’s South Shore in waters previously identified by the federal agency responsible for leasing water rights. Another possible developer has offered a project off the New Jersey coast. A state official said all projects would get careful review, and downplayed the notion of their distance from New York.

Read the full story at Newsday

Vineyard Wind Submits Final Environmental Impact Report To Massachusetts

December 20, 2018 — Massachusetts offshore wind developer Vineyard Wind has submitted a final environmental impact report (FEIR) to the state’s Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA).

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) recently issued a notice of availability for the project’s draft environmental impact statement (DEIS). According to the developer, both these steps move the project closer to approval of environmental permitting by state and federal officials. Endorsement of the FEIR will be the final step in the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) review process, which includes a focus on cables connecting the proposed 800 MW project in federal waters to the grid connection point in Barnstable, Mass.

BOEM prepared the DEIS as part of the agency’s review of the entire Vineyard Wind project, which will be constructed 14 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard. The report provides an analysis of potential environmental impacts associated with proposed actions as set forth in the construction and operations plan, submitted to BOEM in 2017.

According to the developer, the FEIR reflects refinements that have been made to the project, including many based on input from state agencies, the Town of Barnstable and members of the public. The MEPA office will accept public comment until Jan. 25, 2019.

Read the full story at North American Wind Power

Connecticut Regulators Approve Revolution Wind Power Contract

December 20, 2018 — Ørsted US Offshore Wind has received approval from Connecticut regulators of its 20-year power-purchase agreement for the Revolution Wind offshore wind farm.

Connecticut’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority today approved Ørsted’s long-term power-purchase agreement with Eversource and United Illuminating, two Connecticut utilities, for the 200 megawatts of clean energy that Revolution Wind will deliver to Connecticut. That’s enough renewable energy to power 100,000 Connecticut homes and to displace six million tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

“Connecticut is now an important player in America’s offshore wind industry,” said Jeffrey Grybowski, Co-CEO of Ørsted US Offshore Wind. “We’re proud to be building the state’s first offshore wind farm. We’re ready to make major investments in our local workforce and in the Port of New London to ramp up this project.”

With the power contract now finalized, Ørsted will accelerate development work on Revolution Wind. Offshore installation work on Revolution Wind will begin in 2022, with the project in operations in 2023. Offshore oceanographic and geophysical survey work already began in 2018.

Deepwater Wind – now Ørsted US Offshore Wind – committed to investing at least $15 million in the Port of New London to allow substantial aspects of Revolution Wind to be constructed in New London. The company also plans to open a development office in New London and use a Connecticut-based boat builder to construct one for the project’s crew transfer vessels in Connecticut. The project is expected to create over 1,400 direct, indirect and induced jobs.

Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy and the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection selected Ørsted US Offshore Wind (then Deepwater Wind)’s Revolution Wind in June in the state’s first procurement for offshore wind energy.

Revolution Wind, located in federal waters roughly halfway between Montauk, N.Y., and Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., is designed to serve as regional energy center. Rhode Island separately selected 400MW from Revolution Wind to power that state.

Read the full story at Wind Business Intelligence

It’s Official, Orsted Acquires Deepwater Wind

November 12, 2018 — Orsted, Denmark’s largest energy company and the world’s largest offshore wind developer, has completed the acquisition of Deepwater Wind from the D.E. Shaw Group. The $510 million transaction was announced last month.

As a combined organization, Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind becomes the leading American offshore wind platform, with a goal of delivering renewable energy to the eight states on the East Coast from Massachusetts to Virginia that have committed to a combined 10 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030.

The acquisition comes as Deepwater Wind’s proposed South Fork Wind Farm, to be constructed approximately 35 miles from Montauk, is undergoing review by federal and state agencies, and the East Hampton Town Board and trustees ponder whether to grant easements or leases allowing the 15-turbine wind farm’s transmission cable to make landfall at the ocean beach at the end of Beach Lane in Wainscott, the company’s preferred site. From there it would be buried along a route to the Long Island Power Authority substation near Cove Hollow Road in East Hampton.

Read the full story at the East Hampton Star

Closer scrutiny for offshore wind energy

November 9, 2018 — The first environmental impact assessment for a major offshore wind energy project in federal waters got underway this week.

The South Fork Wind Farm, Deepwater Wind’s plan for 15 turbines east of Montauk, N.Y., was the subject at a round of scoping meetings held in Long Island and southern New England by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

It is the first step in developing an environmental impact statement for what will be the second commercial East Coast wind project, following Deepwater’s Block Island Wind Farm, the five-turbine demonstration project that came in line in Rhode Island in late 2016.

Read the full story at WorkBoat