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States and clean energy: 3 issues to watch

June 16, 2023 — Statehouses across the country are enacting new energy laws this year, tackling issues that will directly affect President Joe Biden’s climate agenda even as Congress stands divided.

New laws signed in recent months and proposals still under consideration may affect the growth trajectory of low-carbon technologies including offshore wind and rooftop solar. In many cases, state plans may evolve over time along with national programs.

For emerging technologies like hydrogen, state lawmakers are trying to manage how the Biden administration’s ambitions will play out locally. Democrats have largely tried to implement Biden’s big-picture vision for promoting those technologies, while Republicans have sought to apply the brakes in some cases.

The state action is happening during an important period of implementation for last year’s Inflation Reduction Act and the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law.

“We expected states to look into follow-on” laws that would respond to policies contained in the Inflation Reduction Act, said Frank Wolak, CEO of the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association.

More laws of that kind are likely to emerge in additional state legislatures, he added. “I expect there’ll be others interested.”

The Treasury Department has recently rolled out guidance on how tax credits from the IRA could be claimed for rooftop solar projects and for U.S.-made offshore wind parts. And the Department of Energy is slated to award up to $7 billion of infrastructure funds for the first hubs of low-carbon hydrogen production, storage, transport and consumption this fall, for instance.

Both parties are angling to bring billions of dollars in infrastructure law funds to their states to support the first large demonstrations of low-carbon hydrogen. They include Republicans in Mississippi and North Dakota as well as Democrats in Hawaii and Washington.

Read the full article at E&E News

NEW JERSEY: Whale Deaths Aside, Here’s Why New Jersey’s Offshore Wind Farm Is Still Controverial

June 16, 2023 — While New Jersey politicians fight over whether or not sonar mapping of the ocean floor off the coast of New Jersey is impacting marine mammals, the ongoing project remains controversial even without taking that matter into consideration.

As the world strives to transition to clean and sustainable energy sources, offshore wind energy has emerged as a promising solution. With its vast coastline and proximity to major population centers, New Jersey has become a focal point for the development of offshore wind projects.

However, like any ambitious undertaking, the journey towards harnessing this renewable resource has been accompanied by controversy and challenges. In this blog post, we will explore the offshore wind energy controversy in New Jersey, examining the key stakeholders, concerns raised, and the potential benefits it holds for the state.

Offshore wind energy has gained significant traction as a viable renewable energy source due to several advantages, according to supporters.

Read the full article at Shore News Network

OREGON: Oregon governor, members of Congress call for pause on offshore wind turbines

June 14, 2023 — Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek is joining a chorus of voices — including tribes and commercial fishermen — urging the Biden administration to slow down its push for floating wind farms in the Pacific Ocean off the state’s southern coast.

In a letter sent June 9 to Elizabeth Klein, director of the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM, Kotek asked the agency to pause identifying and leasing offshore wind areas in order to fully evaluate impacts on the environment and economy.

The letter was also signed by U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, and Reps. Val Hoyle and Suzanne Bonamici, all Democrats.

Read the full article at Capital Press

Renegotiating choice: Protect ratepayers or push clean energy?

June 14, 2023 –A top regulator in Rhode Island is raising concerns about the way offshore wind developers are seeking to renegotiate the financial terms of their projects, saying policymakers are facing a harsh choice between protecting the interests of ratepayers and promoting the generation of electricity considered vital in the battle against climate change.

Ronald Gerwatowski, the chair of the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission and the state’s Energy Facilities Siting Board, made his comments at the end of a 2½-hour hearing on Monday dealing with SouthCoast Wind, a project that secured a power purchase agreement in Massachusetts that the developer is now seeking to terminate so it can rebid the project at much higher prices in a procurement slated for next year. The project is before Rhode Island regulators because it seeks to run a transmission line connecting the wind farm to Massachusetts via Rhode Island.

Read the full article at the New Bedford Light

MAINE: Maine governor, congressional delegation to feds: Keep offshore wind projects out of lobster fishing area

June 14, 2023 — Gov. Janet Mills and the state’s congressional delegation want federal officials to consider Maine’s lobster industry as the government weighs proposals for offshore wind farms in the Gulf of Maine.

Mills, Sens. Angus King and Susan Collins, and Reps. Jared Golden and Chellie Pingree are asking the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to avoid areas used by the lobster industry and “minimize all potential conflicts” with the industry.

The bureau is eyeing commercial wind projects off the coasts of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine, an area encompassing 9.8 million acres, about twice the area of New Jersey.

Read the full article at Spectrum News

MAINE: Maine delegation urges caution to offshore wind development

June 14, 2023 — Maine’s governor and federal legislators are urging the Biden administration to consider the views of the state’s fishing communities when reviewing offshore wind projects in the Gulf of Maine.

Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, R-ME, and Angus King, I-ME, and U.S. Reps. Chellie Pingree, D-ME, and Jared Golden, D-ME, joined forces to send a letter to the Bureau of Ocean Management requesting that wind development projects avoid key lobstering areas.

In the letter, the group of elected officials urged that the bureau work to minimize “all potential conflicts” between the two industries.

Read the full article at The Center Square

Feds Commit $82 Million to Protect North Atlantic Right Whale

June 14, 2023 — Six months after an unprecedented number of humpback whale deaths occurred along the New Jersey coast, the federal government announced billions in funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that includes an $82 million commitment to the conservation and protection of the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale.

The funds are part of the total $3.3 billion earmarked for NOAA under the Inflation Reduction Act to address climate change.

“We will provide direct support for the application of newer technologies, such as passive acoustic monitoring. We will invest in the development and, ultimately, implementation of new technologies to enable vessels to detect and avoid right whales and other large whales,” according to NOAA’s webpage on how it will prioritize the federal dollars. “This will reduce one of the primary threats to this species. We will continue developing and evaluating new technologies, such as satellite observations, to transform North Atlantic right whale monitoring and to improve understanding of the whales’ distribution and habitat use.”

Read the full article at The Sand Paper

NORTH CAROLINA: NC joins pact to cover offshore wind-related fisheries losses

June 14, 2023 — North Carolina has joined nearly a dozen other East Coast states to create a financial compensation program that would cover economic losses within the fisheries industry caused by Atlantic offshore wind development.

The Fisheries Mitigation Project aims to establish a regional administrator to oversee the process of reviewing claims and making payouts collected through a fund paid for by wind developers to commercial and for-hire recreational fisheries industries to mitigate financial loss associated with offshore wind farms.

Read the full article at CoastalReview.org

MAINE: Maine Pols Beg Biden to Protect Fisheries as Offshore Wind Power Advances

June 13, 2023 — As offshore wind power continues its inexorable advance in the Gulf of Maine, Gov. Janet Mills and Maine’s Congressional Delegation are pleading with the Biden Administration to protect the interests of Maine’s local fisheries.

In a letter sent Monday to Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Elizabeth Klein, Gov. Mills, U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King, and Reps. Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden submitted public comment to the federal agency concerning offshore wind development plans.

In the letter, Maine’s political leaders requested the avoidance of key lobstering areas for wind development, with a strong emphasis on minimizing conflicts between offshore wind projects and the fishing industry.

Their plea comes as a direct response to BOEM’s “Call for Information and Nominations” for potential commercial wind energy development in areas off the coasts of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine.

Read the full article at the Maine Wire

RHODE ISLAND: R.I. offshore wind proponents optimistic despite SouthCoast financing troubles

June 12, 2023 — A second Massachusetts wind farm developer has hit economic headwinds and decided to renege on its contracts. Could Rhode Island’s projects be next to fall?

State officials and offshore wind proponents say no.

Instead, they have brushed off the news that Massachusetts wind farm developer Southcoast Wind Energy LLC (formerly known as Mayflower Wind) wants to scrap its agreements to sell 1,200 megawatts of electricity to the Commonwealth amid rising project costs.

“It’s just part of the regular business cycle we’re dealing with,” said Patrick Crowley, a union organizer and co-chairman of Climate Jobs Rhode Island. “Construction projects are always trying to negotiate their contracts. It’s just part of the business.”

Indeed, the SouthCoast Wind farm – a joint venture by Shell and Spanish company Ocean Wind –  is hardly the only development project hurt by inflationary cost hikes and supply chain slowdowns. Another Massachusetts wind farm developer, Avangrid Renewables, ended its existing contracts with state utility companies for the Commonwealth Wind project in 2022 for similar cost concerns.

For SouthCoast, the payments from utility companies it negotiated in 2019 just don’t work anymore. A third-party analysis shows construction and operation costs have spiked more than 20%, according to Southcoast Wind Energy CEO Francis Slingsby.

“The existing PPAs will not attract the financing necessary to construct the Clean Energy Resource and Project because they are low-priced, have no indexation and thus offer no way to overcome the significant and unforeseen economic challenges,” Slingsby wrote in June 2 testimony to Rhode Island regulators.

Both Southcoast and Avangrid plan to rebid for new power purchase agreements in Massachusetts in the hopes of getting more money from the utility companies.

Read the full article at the Rhode Island Current