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NEW JERSEY: Wind Farm Surveying Begins Again Off South Jersey Coast

May 7, 2020 — Surveying ships are beginning operations in a massive area of the Atlantic Ocean miles off the New Jersey coast as a leading bidder for the state’s second wind farm ramps up work again.

Two vessels began May 1 exploring “potential export cable route corridors towards Atlantic City” from a 183,000-square mile section of the ocean leased by Atlantic Shores LLC. The company is a joint venture between Shell New Energies US and EDF Renewables US.

Another off-shore wind project, led by Danish clean energy giant Ørsted, received the first approval from New Jersey and the federal government last summer to move ahead with a wind farm. It will be built about 15 miles off the coast of Atlantic City and Cape May.

Read the full story at NBC Philadelphia

Delaware wind farm timeline delayed by one year

May 5, 2020 — A wind farm set to be built off Delaware’s coast should now be completed one year later than originally planned.

The company, Ørsted, says the turbines will now be built by the end of 2023 instead of 2022. Officials tell 47 ABC that Ørsted is receiving its “federal Notice of Intent” for the Skipjack Wind Farm later than originally anticipated. In a statement they say, “Ørsted remains firmly committed to working with our federal partners to complete Skipjack and provide clean, reliable offshore wind energy to 35,000 homes in the Delmarva region.”

According to Ørsted, “a Notice of Intent is a communication issued by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) during the federal permitting process announcing its intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Construction and Operations Plan (COP) submitted by Skipjack Offshore Wind, LLC.”

Read the full story at WMDT

East Coast, West Coast: Very Different Offshore Wind Industries

May 1, 2020 — In order for many states to fulfill the goals they set to significantly reduce emissions or reach complete carbon neutrality by 2050, they will have to rely on a variety of renewable energy sources. Only by using a combination of wind, solar, battery storage, hydropower, electric and alternative fuel vehicles can states attain their carbon-reduction goals.

In a series of recent webinars, IPF Virtual, hosted by the Business Network for Offshore Wind, industry leaders congregated to discuss the current state of the offshore wind industry, as well as to offer their insights and research concerning various obstacles that need to be overcome in order for the U.S. offshore wind industry to reach its full potential.

Offshore wind is one of the resources that must be utilized to maximum capacity in the next 30 years if states on both the East and West Coasts hope to make the transition to carbon-neutrality. California, Washington, Maine, Rhode Island, Virginia, New Jersey and New York have all pledged to significantly reduce their carbon emissions, if not reach complete carbon-neutrality, by the 2050 milestone – a handful of ambitious states set 2045 as their target.

The potential for U.S. offshore wind energy is enormous. If utilized to capacity, the country’s shores have a power potential of 2,000 GW – almost double the nation’s current energy use. Besides creating jobs, harnessing the U.S.’ offshore wind will revitalize ports and coastal communities, improve national security and deliver vast amounts of clean energy to the country’s biggest population centers.

Read the full story at North American Wind Power

5 Orsted US Offshore Wind Projects Face Possible Delay Due to COVID-19, Permitting Challenges

April 30, 2020 — Five of Ørsted’s U.S. offshore wind projects totaling nearly 3 gigawatts may face delays due to the coronavirus crisis and slowed permitting, in a blow to U.S. ambitions to animate a thriving offshore wind industry over the next few years.

Denmark’s Ørsted, the world’s top offshore wind developer, built a formidable early lead in the U.S. market, with projects stretching from New England down to Virginia, including two huge projects totaling nearly 2 gigawatts for New Jersey and New York.

On Wednesday Ørsted confirmed that two smaller projects — the 120-megawatt Skipjack for Maryland and the 130-megawatt South Fork for New York — are all but certain to be delayed beyond their planned completion dates in 2022. Ørsted now expects to finish Skipjack in the following year, and COVID-19-related shutdowns in New York “will also very likely delay South Fork beyond 2022,” the company said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Ørsted said its three largest awarded U.S. offshore projects — the 704-megawatt Revolution Wind for Rhode Island and Connecticut; 880-megawatt Sunrise Wind for New York; and 1.1-gigawatt Ocean Wind for New Jersey — face “increased risk of delays.”

Read the full story at Green Tech Media

Orsted expects delays in South Fork offshore wind farm

April 30, 2020 — The South Fork offshore wind farm will “very likely” be delayed beyond its planned 2022 completion date, according to a top official for project developer Orsted, who cited a “prolonged” federal review of U.S. wind projects and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Denmark-based Orsted’s U.S. offshore wind projects were still advancing, said chief executive Henrik Poulsen in comments with the release of Orsted’s first quarter financial report, but at a “slower pace” than planned. He cited the South Fork wind farm as one of two projects that were the “most exposed to the risk of delays.”

A second project by Orsted known as the Skipjack wind farm off the coast of Maryland also will likely be delayed by about a year from its originally 2022 completion date, Poulsen said.

There are also “increased risks of delay” for another New York project known as Sunrise Wind, intended to connect to the Long Island grid in 2024, Poulsen said, as well two other East Coast projects. Sunrise Wind, awarded by New York State with a capacity of some 880 megawatts, has been hampered by an inability to complete offshore site surveys by vessels because of COVID-19 restrictions, Poulsen said. The company expects to have “more clarity” on whether the projects will meet 2023-24 completion dates “after summer,” Poulsen said.

Read the full story at Newsday

Fishing industry group wants Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire offshore wind planning postponed during pandemic

April 29, 2020 — A group representing the fishing industry has written to New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, Maine Gov. Janet Mills and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker asking for a six-month pause in planning Gulf of Maine (GOM) offshore wind development amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The letter from the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) seeks to ensure that fishermen have a say in the early stages of any proposed projects, RODA executive director Annie Hawkins told The Center Square.

“The idea behind the letter was the Gulf of Maine is at the beginning of planning for offshore wind. Given how important it is to fishermen’s work routes and interactive site mapping, it has to be done when everyone can be at the table,” Hawkins said. “And right now, the fishing industry is dealing with their own things brought on by the pandemic.”

Hawkins said in other regions of offshore wind development, fishermen haven’t had enough of a voice in the planning process because work commitments often preclude them from being at meetings.

“What we’re seeing in other regions, fishing interests are brought in late in the game,” Hawkins said.

Read the full story at The Center Square

Geophysical survey underway at Virginia offshore wind site

April 28, 2020 — A pair of offshore service vessels from the Gulf of Mexico are at work off Virginia, conducting geophysical studies on a 112,800-acre federal lease where Dominion Energy and offshore wind developer Ørsted plan to build a 2,600-megawatt turbine array beginning in 2024.

Geospatial surveyors TerraSond contracted with Houma, La.-based Bordelon Marine to use the Sarah Bordelon and the Marcelle Bordelon, both 170’x36’x10’, 440.9 dwt, to start the work in mid-April in the lease area, 27 miles east of Virginia Beach.

“These surveys will provide the company with the geological, biological, and oceanographic data needed to support planning and construction in a manner that facilitates coexistence between the natural marine ecosystem and clean energy development,” Dominion Energy said in a statement issued April 27. “Ultimately, this data will support preparation of the project’s Construction and Operations Plan to be submitted to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) later this year.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Coronavirus halts nation’s largest purchase of offshore wind

April 27, 2020 — The state’s Public Service Commission (PSC) authorised the New York Energy Research and Development Authority (Nyserda) to issue a new offshore wind solicitation for at least 1GW and up to 2.5GW.

The energy regulator has planned to issue the tender – which would be the US’ largest offshore wind auction to date – this summer, according to a petition filed with the PSC.

However, Nyserda has suspended its plans to hold the auction round indefinitely as government agencies prioritise New York’s response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

New York has recorded the highest number of cases and casualties in the US, according to statistics company Worldometer.

Read the full story at Wind Power Monthly

Offshore wind turbines headed to Virginia; New Jersey launches ‘WIND Institute’

April 24, 2020 — Components for the first two offshore wind energy turbines to be installed in U.S. federal waters departed from Denmark, bound for Nova Scotia and ultimately installation off Virginia, project backers said April 21.

The pair of 6-megawatt Siemens Gamesa will be assembled by Dominion Energy and wind developer Ørsted for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW), a pilot project 27 miles offshore for what is planned to become a much larger array on a federal lease east of Virginia Beach.

The foundations, consisting of the turbines’ monopiles, transition pieces and anode cages fabricated by metals manufacturer EEW SPC, were loaded at Rostock, Germany onto the Bigroll Beaufort, a 568-foot Netherlands-flagged flat deck cargo ship. Turbine components were loaded at Esbjerg, Denmark, before the vessel embarked in mid-April. Arrival is expected around April 25 in Halifax, according to commercial vessel tracking services.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

The Deepwater Horizon Disaster Fueled a Gulf Science Bonanza

April 23, 2020 — After the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded a decade ago this month, killing 11 workers and spewing a massive black curtain of crude oil across the Gulf of Mexico, thousands of first responders and cleanup workers arrived on the scene. So too did an army of scientists. Aboard seagoing research vessels and wading along beaches and marshes, they came to assess the catastrophe and track it over time. British Petroleum, owner of the rig, agreed to fund a scientific stimulus package of $500 million just a few weeks after the April 20, 2010, blowout.

The 134 million gallons of oil devastated wildlife from Texas to Florida, killing thousands of marine mammals, such as dolphins and sea turtles, according to federal officials, and destroying shoreline and underwater habitats for commercially important fish, crabs, shrimp, and oysters. More than 25,000 fishermen and seafood industry workers were suddenly out of work, with a 10-year price tag of $4.5 billion in total economic losses, according to a 2019 study by a trio of researchers funded in part by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Read the full story at Wired