Saving Seafood

Deepwater Will File Wind Farm Application With The State Without Waiting For East Hampton Trustees’ Approval

September 12, 2018 — Deepwater Wind says it will file its massive application for the South Fork Wind Farm with the New York State Public Service Commission this month—without waiting for the East Hampton Town Trustees to vote on whether they will grant a lease to the company.

A spokesperson for the wind farm company confirmed that the application, already months behind when the company originally hoped to file, is expected to be submitted to the state this week or next.

The Trustees have not voted on a resolution to allow Deepwater to run the wind farm power cable beneath Trustees-owned beach at Beach Lane in Wainscott, or to vote on one “memorializing” their intention to do so, as the Town Board did in July for allowing the cable to run under town roads.

But Deepwater spokesperson Meaghan Whims cited the recent unanimous support of the Trustees for hiring a municipal contract attorney to represent the board in the negotiations of the lease, and said the company has taken it as a sign that the Trustees ultimately expect to hammer out an agreement with Deepwater—though she acknowledged that the application with the state also will account for the possibility that one or both of the town entities will balk when it comes to signing actual contracts.

Read the full story at 27 East

 

Fishermen’s Energy, EDF Renewables to Start Ocean Wind Power Off New Jersey

September 12, 2018 — On Sept. 5, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities deemed the application by EDF Renewables and Fishermen’s Energy for the Nautilus Offshore Wind project is complete.

The BPU has 90 days from Aug. 1 to review the project and make a decision on whether to approve the small-scale project to be located approximately 2.8 miles off the coastline of Atlantic City.

According to a press release from EDF and Fishermen’s Energy, once approved construction would start immediately and could be completed in 2020.

The project is expected to be comprised of three wind turbines with a combined capacity of up to 25 megawatts (MW).

“It’s a crucial first step toward implementing the Offshore Wind Economic Development Act and building a workforce capable of meeting Gov. Phil Murphy’s statewide goal of 3,500 MW of offshore wind generation by 2030,” said EDF spokesperson Cathy Rought.

Nautilus Offshore Wind is expected to employ about 600 workers for a year during construction, as well as additional jobs during operation and maintenance. New Jersey residents across the state could expect to begin receiving power generated by Nautilus Offshore Wind as early as 2021. The company estimates that for the average New Jersey electric consumer, the additional cost of power will amount to about $1.76 per year. At the same time it would offset 40,000 tons of carbon dioxide. It will also serve as a laboratory for new avian monitoring (bird strikes) and marine mammal impacts.

“Nautilus will make it possible for Atlantic City to become the birthplace of an emerging industry, creating new jobs and sustainable economic growth,” said New Jersey Assemblyman Vince Mazzeo (Atlantic County). “When approved, the project will be the start of an energy transformation that will allow for a brighter and cleaner future here in Atlantic City, in Atlantic County and across the state.”

According to EDF and Fishermen’s Energy, an independent analysis showed that Nautilus is expected to increase New Jersey’s total economic output by $150 million with construction by 2020. Maintaining the offshore wind project could add $16 million annually for the state, with a projected economic and environmental net benefit of $235 million.

Read the full story at The Sand Paper

Developers see value in California offshore wind development

September 11, 2018 — Now that offshore wind energy has taken a strong position in New England’s future power planning, due in part to unexpectedly competitive prices, developers are looking toward new markets.

State mandates and contractual commitments promise to make offshore wind a key part of the East Coast power mix by the mid-2020s. But offshore wind is not limited to the east. A Sept. 17 meeting of a federal-state Energy Task Force could clear federal permitting obstacles, bring thousands of California coastal wind MWs into the market, and pioneer floating turbine technology.

Regulators are saying little ahead of the meeting but the Trump administration sees wind energy as “affordable and reliable,” Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Chief of Staff Alex Fitzsimmons told Utility Dive. And because of its high capacity factors, offshore wind “has the potential to contribute to reliability,” he added. “It is a critical resource for the future.”

First, however, developers will need the rights to build. That remains in doubt until at least Sept. 17. If they get those rights, a three-step plan may allow California to bring prices down enough to begin harvesting wind, just when it will be needed the most.

Read the full story at Utility Drive

US East Coast could build nearly 9 GW of offshore wind capacity over next decade

September 10, 2018 — The US East Coast is leading the nation’s charge toward developing an offshore wind industry, and while the country only has 30 MW of offshore wind capacity installed currently, if goals are met and announced projects are built, the East Coast could have nearly 9 GW of offshore wind capacity by the 2030s.

The US has a long way to go in closing the gap with Europe in terms of offshore wind capacity, but with several East Coast states committing to achieve aggressive offshore wind development goals, the country could make considerable progress over the next decade.

Europe had nearly 16 GW of total installed offshore wind capacity at the end of 2017, according to trade group Wind Europe, compared with just one operating facility in the US — Deepwater Wind’s 30-MW Block Island Wind Farm in Rhode Island.

New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts are leading the way when it comes to setting offshore wind development goals. New York has a target to receive 2.4 GW of offshore wind power by 2030 and plans to issue requests for proposals for 800 MW in fourth-quarter 2018.

Not to be outdone, New Jersey has a goal of 3.5 GW of offshore wind generation by 2030. The state’s Board of Public Utilities Wednesday accepted an application from EDF Renewables and Fishermen’s Energy for the small-scale 25-MW Nautilus Offshore Wind project that would be located off the Atlantic City coast and could be generating power by 2021. Building a smaller project first has been touted by the companies as a way to kick start New Jersey’s offshore wind industry.

Read the full story at S&P Global

NEW YORK: Plea to Fund Fishing Survey

September 7, 2018 — Several months after they asked East Hampton Town for $30,000 to collect data aimed at protecting fishing grounds and compensating commercial fishermen when they are unable to work, that request has still not been granted, the director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association and the liaison chosen by East Hampton Town’s fisheries advisory committee to communicate with Deepwater Wind complained to the town board on Tuesday.

While the liaison, Julie Evans, and Bonnie Brady of the fishing association addressed the board, Deepwater Wind, the Rhode Island company planning to construct the 15-turbine South Fork Wind Farm approximately 30 miles off Montauk, is in the midst of a projected four-month survey at the site and along the transmission cable’s route to shore.

Commercial fishermen are mostly opposed to the wind farm, fearing damage or destruction of fishing grounds and potential alteration of migration patterns caused by the electromagnetic frequency emitted by its transmission cable.

A “mariners briefing” dated Tuesday and posted on Deepwater Wind’s website states that “all mariners transiting or fishing in the survey area are requested to give a wide berth to survey vessels as they will be limited in their ability to maneuver and towing gear out to 300 meters behind the vessel.”

Ms. Brady told the board that the purpose of a fisheries representative is to develop a mitigation-monitoring plan with a Deepwater Wind representative. “Unfortunately,” she said, “when it comes to Deepwater, their communication as far as the survey is ‘Get out of the way,’ and outreach is ‘Get out of the way now.’ ” Commercial fishermen who work in the survey area are now restricted, she said. “For how long? Who pays that? If you’ve got a day’s pay and have made that same day’s pay over the course of the last 10 or 20 years, and suddenly you can’t fish because the survey boat is there,” a mitigation plan is not only needed but should have been in place prior to commencement of the survey.

Read the full story at The Hampton Star

Massachusetts: Vineyard Wind Submits Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Report

September 5, 2018 — Vineyard Wind announced today that it has submitted the project’s Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Report (SDEIR) to the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act Office (MEPA.) The latest report will further ensure that members of public have ample opportunity to provide input about the United States’ first large-scale offshore wind farm.

The SDEIR filing captures additional project refinements following the award and negotiation of long-term contracts with Massachusetts’ electric distribution companies (EDCs) for construction of an 800-megawatt (MW) wind farm 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard.

Vineyard Wind remains on schedule to begin site construction in 2019 and become operational by 2021. When Vineyard Wind’s project is completed, it will reduce Massachusetts’ carbon emissions by over 1.6 million tons per year, the equivalent of removing 325,000 cars from state roads.

Read the full story at Cape Cod Today

 

Can offshore wind and commercial fishing coexist?

September 5, 2018 — The Virginia Marise slides away from the dock into the pitch-black night. At 4 a.m., the only light comes from a flood light illuminating the deck of the boat and a handful of streetlights on land that disappear into the darkness as Captain Rodman Sykes maneuvers his boat out of the harbor, the black sky indistinguishable from the black sea.

This is a familiar scene to fishermen like Mr. Sykes. Commercial fishermen have headed out on these New England waters for some 400 years, casting their lines and nets overboard just as the sun peeks over the horizon. But at daybreak on this August morning, there’s a new sight. As the inky-black night gradually fades into the dim gray pre-dawn light, five red flashing lights appear all in a row on the horizon.

Those lights come from the five turbines making up the United States’ first offshore wind farm – the 30 megawatt Block Island Wind Farm. As the Virginia Marise draws closer, and the sky begins to blush pink, the turbines stand out on the horizon. The blades turn slowly in the slight breeze, generating electricity that flows through a cable buried in the seabed to Rhode Island’s Block Island.

The turbines and all the hardware that accompanies them spun to life in December 2016. So far, this is the only offshore wind power in the nation, and with just five turbines, it’s a small installation. But that’s soon to change. Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut have already selected larger projects which are set to be installed not far from the Block Island Wind Farm. And more are in the development pipeline in New York, New Jersey, and Maryland.

This flurry of activity has sparked agitation among the fishermen who have long been a fixture on the Eastern seaboard. Could fields of turbines disrupt their operations and the resource on which their livelihoods depend? Meetings with developers and permitting officials have been tense and, at times, explosive. A group of fishermen have even sued the federal government for leasing a tract of seafloor south of Long Island to an offshore wind developer.

Read the full story at The Christian-Science Monitor

Study finds high return on investment for New Jersey offshore wind spending

September 4, 2018 — Every dollar spent in-state to build a 352-megawatt wind farm off the New Jersey coast would generate $1.83 in economic benefit, according to a new study by BW Research Partnership.

But it used a model developed by the federal government that assumed 56 percent of the $843 million in construction expenditures would likely go to out-of-state businesses. That means most of the positive ripple-effect spending would likely go to other states, and overall costs would outpace economic benefit here.

The report estimated about $383 million would be spent in-state to build the wind farm, which would generate an additional $319 million in ripple-effect spending, for a total in-state economic benefit of $702 million.

Read the full story at the Press of Atlantic City

CALIFORNIA: Navy now considering plans for ocean wind farms — and Morro Bay is a top prospect

September 4, 2018 — Efforts to build fields of floating wind turbines off the coast of California are gaining momentum, and Morro Bay might be at the front of the line.

Despite a lack of publicity, activity on the West Coast has been moving along — ”quite a bit of it,” according to Morro Bay city administrator Eric Endersby.

Endersby has been working to help Seattle-based Trident Winds find a home in Morro Bay for a multimillion dollar project that would tie into the grid in the city where the mothballed Dynegy power plant has sat idle since 2014.

Wind energy proposals present an attractive option in a state that’s aggressively pursuing clean energy solutions. Just this week, the state Assembly approved a bill that would mandate California generate 100 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2045.

Read the full story at The Tribune

JON MITCHELL: New York Wind Farms Could Harm Fishing Industry

August 30, 2018 — The city is continuing progress in developing the offshore wind industry without adversely affecting the commercial fishing industry. Mayor Jon Mitchell says we’ll see more activity in the area within the coming months.

However, in his weekly appearance on WBSM, the mayor voiced his concerns with proposed offshore wind farms that are proposed in the waters off New York and New Jersey

Mayor Mitchell said that those waters are much more heavily fished by New Bedford-based vessels than the wind farm areas off Massachusetts. He said that if those proposed wind developments become a reality, it will have a very adverse effect on the local fishing industry.

Read the full story at WBSM