Saving Seafood

BOEM intends to lease more wind farm area off Delaware coast

December 18, 2023 — The U.S. Department of the Interior recently announced a proposal of another offshore wind lease sale, this time in ocean waters about 26 nautical miles from Delaware Bay.

“We are taking action to jumpstart America’s offshore wind industry and using American innovation to deliver reliable, affordable power to homes and businesses, while also addressing the climate crisis,” said Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in a prepared statement.

According to the announcement, the new areas have the potential to power more than 2.2 million homes with clean energy.

Read the full article at the Cape Gazette 

 

East Coast offshore wind farm delayed due to supply chain issues, high interest, and lack of tax credits

September 5, 2023 — Global wind energy developer Ørsted has announced its planned offshore wind farm off the coast of New Jersey will be delayed until 2026 due to several reasons including supply chain issues.

The company, which is based in Fredericia, Denmark, has several offshore wind farms planned off the coasts of Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island.

The Associated Press reported that the Danish company exposed the delay during an earnings call on Wednesday, admitting it could be forced to write-off about $2.3 billion in U.S. projects worth less than earlier projections.

Read the full article Fox Business

Delaware eyes its first offshore wind target, but trouble looms

August 30, 2023 — For years, Delaware has been on the sidelines as the emerging offshore wind industry flocked to neighboring states, but a new law could transform the industry in the state — if it’s not too late.

Delaware’s Democratic-led Legislature recently ordered a study of the state’s offshore wind potential to be reported back by the end of the year. The move, which was signed by Gov. John Carney (D) this month, adds momentum for the state to set its first target for offshore wind, a goal of many lawmakers and environmental groups.

“We’re alone among our neighbors of not really having wind targets,” said state Sen. Stephanie Hansen (D), who has spearheaded the state’s reassessments of offshore wind to meet its climate targets as chair of the state Senate Environment and Energy Committee. “Delaware, as of now, I think, is really firing on all cylinders to move into the next phase of energy planning and implementation.”

If the study leads to a state offshore wind goal, it would bring Delaware in line with neighboring states and give it an opportunity to compete for industry jobs and businesses emerging along the East Coast. Power grid operator PJM Interconnection LLC is assisting with the study in looking at transmission impacts. But concerns about the cost of offshore wind still linger from a 2018 analysis that effectively tabled wind ambitions in the state for years.

Read the full article at Energy Central

Delaware is considering offshore wind as feds approve 100,000 acres off the state’s coast

August 3, 2023 — The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced this week the creation of a more than 100,000 acres off the coast of Delaware that could potentially be used for offshore wind. It would be an opportunity for the state to tap a renewable energy source most other states along the East Coast have already embraced.

The action comes after Delaware recently took its own small step toward exploring what that form of renewable energy might entail, but the state still lags years behind neighboring states, such as Maryland and New Jersey, in planning for offshore wind.

The Delaware offshore wind area encompasses 101,767 acres that lie 26.4 nautical miles (30 miles) from Delaware Bay at an average depth of 121 feet. The area is prime territory for surf clam and scallop fishing. According to a BOEM map, the area is off the midpoint of the bay, with Cape May just to the north.

What are the wind areas?

The BOEM announced the new wind energy areas Monday for locations within the outer continental shelf off Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. If all of the areas were developed for offshore wind, they could support between 4 and 8 gigawatts of energy production, enough to power millions of homes.

The announcement of the areas within federal waters is meant to facilitate the development of wind farms. But they’re not automatically authorized. BOEM would still need to bid for leases and conduct environmental reviews.

And Delaware would have to create policies, choose a developer, and ensure any projects get connected to an electrical grid to bring power onshore.

The BOEM announcement comes as part of President Joe Biden’s goal to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030. The BOEM is currently accepting public comments on the leases and has posted related documents online.

Read the full article at The Philadelphia Inquirer 

DELAWARE: Offshore wind developers renew interest in Delaware as DNREC weighs its options

July 24, 2023 — The offshore wind industry has plenty of interest in building a wind farm off Delaware but only if the state commits to buying a certain quantity of power from a turbine farm, according to an offshore wind specialist at the University of Delaware.

Kris Ohleth, executive director of the school’s Special Initiative for Offshore Wind, said she has had discussions with Orsted – which is planning two wind farms off New Jersey – and US Wind — which has plans for a project off Maryland and southern Delaware – indicating that they are both watching Delaware closely to see if it will for the first time procure offshore wind power from the rapidly growing industry.

Both companies have unused wind-power capacity in their ocean-lease areas, and could build more turbines if they could be assured of more customers in Delaware, Ohleth said. The developers could also add to their leases by acquiring new offshore wind areas that are expected to be auctioned by the federal government next year, she said.

“They are very interested,” she said. “The additional capacity for the Orsted and US Wind sites, plus the central Atlantic leasing that is scheduled to happen in 2024, there’s interest in having another off-taker, for sure. Developers are always interested in another customer.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Offshore wind farms could reduce Atlantic City’s surfclam fishery revenue up to 25%, Rutgers study suggests

July 1, 2022 — New research from Rutgers University shows Mid-Atlantic surfclam fisheries could see revenue losses from planned offshore wind farms, at least in the short- to medium-term after the development takes place.

The data is sure to fuel opposition from the fishing industry to the Biden administration’s rapid offshore wind development along the New York, New Jersey, and Delaware coasts. President Joe Biden has a goal of generating 30 gigawatts of wind energy by 2030 as part of his effort to tackle climate change.

Clammers and scallop fishermen fear a shrinking patch of fishable ocean will lead to the collapse of the industry.

Surfclam harvests stretching from Maine to Virginia generate about $30 million in annual revenue. The Rutgers study, “The Atlantic Surfclam Fishery and Offshore Wind Energy Development,” published in the ICES Journal of Marine Science, used a newly-developed model to determine average revenue reductions between 3 and 15% overall.

Read the full story at WHYY

Simulator Helps Researchers Envision Commercial Offshore Wind Farm In Maryland

June 29, 2022 — It won’t be long before offshore wind is powering homes in Maryland, but with so few examples of completed wind farms in the United States, it’s hard to fully imagine what a completed project will look like. 

That’s why Ørsted, a Danish power company, and the Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies in Linthicum Heights teamed up to create the Mid-Atlantic’s first offshore wind farm simulator, bringing these massive projects to life. 

“This is a brand-new industry here in the United States, said Brady Walker, Ørsted’s Head of Government Relations for Maryland and Delaware, “There is not a commercial-scale wind farm in operation here right now. “ 

That will soon change, as companies like Ørsted continue to develop projects in our own backyard. Skipjack Wind, off the coast of Delaware and Maryland, will generate enough clean renewable energy to power about 300,000 homes and businesses on the Delmarva peninsula. 

“For Maryland’s first offshore wind farm – a really impactful commercial utility-scale offshore wind farm,” Walker said.

Read the full story at CBS Baltimore

 

Federal agency to hold public meetings on US Wind project off Ocean City coast as it begins to examine impacts

June 7, 2022 — The federal agency responsible for reviewing offshore wind projects will hold a series of virtual public meetings later this month as it begins the process of evaluating a planned wind farm off the coast of Ocean City and southern Delaware.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said Tuesday that it will formally launch its review of the environmental impacts associated with a wind farm of up to 121 turbines that US Wind LLC plans to build by 2026.

The agency will describe its review process to the public at online meetings at 5 p.m. June 21 and June 23 and at 1 p.m. June 27. The process involves collecting input from the public to determine what environmental impacts the project could have, what alternatives to US Wind’s plans might exist, and what measures could be taken to reduce any impacts.

Bureau Director Amanda Lefton said in a statement the agency would use “the best available science and traditional knowledge to inform our decisions and protect the ocean environment and marine life.”

Read the full story at the Baltimore Sun

Plans for Delaware, Maryland offshore wind projects questioned at forum

May 23, 2022 — Signs of support for offshore wind power abounded outside of Indian River High School Friday.

Inside, it was just the opposite.

Waves of skepticism and opposition followed presentations by representatives of US Wind and Ørsted, two companies that have obtained leases for proposed offshore wind projects in federal waters off the Delaware/Maryland coast.

Topics of concerns included detrimental impact on marine and migratory bird life, the local fishing industry and numerous natural resources, as well as marine safety and unobstructed viewshed.

The fishing industry – recreational and commercial – would take a huge hit, says Meghan Lapp, a fisheries liaison for Seafreeze Ltd. in Rhode Island. She addressed the panel and audience by Zoom.

“What you are looking for in wind farms from a commercial fishing perspective is essentially a complete loss of fishable areas for the next 30 years, which is going to be the career and the lifetime of the fishermen that are out there right now,” Ms. Lapp said.

Bonnie Brady, executive director of Long Island Commercial Fishing Association in Montauk, New York, said sonar from site surveying and electromagnetic frequency through cables will result in long-term migratory changes that will have a detrimental impact on marine life, including several endangered species of whales.

“It will change the ecosystem of the area,” Ms. Brady said.

Read the full story at Delaware State News

Survey conflicts test relations between wind, fishing industries

April 27, 2022 — The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and offshore wind energy developers are pledging to do better by commercial fishermen – with fisheries studies, scout boats to head off survey conflicts with fishing gear, and bringing on highly experienced and respected fishermen as industry liaisons.

Incidents of survey boats towing through fixed gear in Mid-Atlantic waters are putting those processes to the test. Conch and black sea bass trap fishermen who have had gear damaged off the Delmarva coast and New Jersey brought their complaints to the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council.

At an April 5 briefing Amanda Lefton, director of the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and wind developers Ørsted and Atlantic Shores updated the regional fishery management council on plans for two adjacent turbine projects off Atlantic City and Long Beach Island, N.J. – and BOEM’s recent $4.37 billion sale of New York Bight wind leases that could become even bigger arrays farther out on the continental shelf.

Then they heard from fishermen who have seen their conch and black sea bass gear dragged and damaged by survey vessels working on wind leases off New Jersey and the Delmarva peninsula.

New Jersey captain Joe Wagner Jr. told the council how he lost 157 bass traps in 2021 during a survey around the Ørsted Ocean Wind project area.

“The only reason I got somewhat of a payment (compensation) is because I caught their vessel at 3 o’clock in the morning pulling three of my high flyers behind their boat,” said Wagner.

Read the full story at National Fisherman