December 6, 2019 — The offshore wind industry is rolling out new projects, but a forthcoming federal environmental report may determine how and when they get built.
The latest industry initiative is the expansion of a cable factory in Charleston, S.C., where Paris-based Nexans plans to make some 620 miles of high-voltage power lines for the five wind projects under development by the utility Eversource and Danish energy company Ørsted. The companies declined to say how the five-year contract was granted. Nexans is also building a new cable-laying vessel with a 10,000-ton capacity.
On Oct. 30, Massachusetts awarded a wind-facility lease to a joint venture between Royal Dutch Shell and EDP Renewables for the 804-megawatt Mayflower Wind wind project 20 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard.
The five projects boost state renewable-energy targets, but for the moment their immediate prospects await the outcome of reports by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Coast Guard.
The Port Access Route Study: The Areas Offshore of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, conducted by the Coast Guard, was prompted by the proposed navigation route changes in U.S. waters.