Saving Seafood

NEW JERSEY: Watchdog group calls for greater transparency in turbines used for New Jersey wind farm

November 27, 2024 — A New Jersey shore community is calling on state regulators and an offshore wind company to conduct a transparent and detailed safety analysis on the turbines selected for the Atlantic Shores South Project.

Save Long Beach Island, a group dedicated to preserving the New Jersey shoreline, sent two invitations to the developers of the Atlantic Shores South Project to participate in a panel discussion on the proposed 200 wind turbines plotted for 8.7 miles offshore. Both requests were ignored.

Read the full article at Washington Examiner

Fallout continues from Vineyard Wind blade failure

November 22, 2024 — Last summer’s structural failure of a single blade on a southern New England offshore turbine continues to reverberate, with new demands for quality assurances and the industry under pressure from incoming president Donald Trump’s promise “to make sure” offshore wind power “ends on day one.”

Allegations that testing data was falsified at LM Wind Power’s plant in Gaspé, Quebec, where the blade was manufactured, are being investigated as part of ongoing probes into the July 13 failure of a turbine blade at the Vineyard Wind project off Nantucket Island, according to  reporting by Canadian news media outlets in late October.

Turbine manufacturer GE Vernova identified a “manufacturing deviation” in the blade built by LM Wind Power, causing breakage of the glued fiberglass laminate structure. On Oct. 24 Quebec news station Radio-Gaspésie and newspaper Gaspésie Nouvelles reported about 20 persons had been laid off or suspended from their jobs at LM Wind Power, including “directors, managers and supervisors,” the newspaper report said.

Vineyard Wind and GE Vernova have been removing and replacing blades on turbines, with little information released on the work progress. GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik has said quality testing on manufactured blades have shown similar defects on less than 10 percent of suspect blades, or “low single digits.”

Strazik says the company is “proactively reinforcing some blades, either in the factory or in the field, to improve their quality and ensure their useful life.” The federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) is continuing its investigation into the blade failure.

Read the full article at Workboat

MARYLAND: Maryland gives go-ahead to permit allowing offshore wind farm to move forward

November 21, 2024 — The Board of Public Works approved a permit Wednesday needed to begin an offshore windmill project in the Delmarva Peninsula, despite objections from Ocean City residents worried about the environmental impact on local wetlands.

The permit, requested by Baltimore wind company US Wind, did not deal with the company’s proposal to build a 114-turbine wind farm 8 miles offshore in the Atlantic Ocean. Wednesday’s permit was to expand a 353-foot-long pier in West Ocean City that will perform a supporting role in the company’s plan to build offshore wind turbines and bring renewable energy to Maryland.

That plan for the Sinepuxent Bay pier, which is currently used by local fishers, sparked nearly two hours of testimony Wednesday from supporters and opponents of the proposal, some of them delivering passionate pleas. Ultimately, the three-member board voted unanimously to approve.

Maryland Environment Secretary Serena McIlwain argued in favor of the proposal, saying it had passed department review and should be approved.

Read the full article at the Capital News Service 

NEW JERSEY: Sweden Blocks Offshore Wind Over Radar Interference; Is NJ Next?

November 21, 2024 — While President-elect Donald Trump has promised to do away with offshore wind, it’s unknown whether his incoming administration will follow Sweden’s lead of rejecting certain projects due to concerns over radar interference and its impact on national security.

“That was really interesting, because Sweden has been a strong proponent of these turbines,” Bob Stern, president and co-founder of Save LBI, said of reports that Sweden had blocked more than a dozen offshore wind projects in the Baltic Sea. “They apparently realized the number of turbines were going to interfere with their military radars onshore. They’re a little concerned now about Russia, and they did not want to tolerate an impairment of their defense capability.”

His comments came during the Nov. 12 Beach Haven Borough Council meeting, where he discussed litigation related to Atlantic Shores as well as a number of initiatives related to offshore wind that might be undertaken by the second Trump administration.

“That’s one of the issues connected to this (Atlantic Shores) project because we have military radars in Gibbsboro, N.J.,” Stern said, explaining radar is used to protect against unwanted things in the ocean and would be impacted by offshore wind turbines. “There have been rumblings from our Department of Defense about this project and other projects. We’ve not been able to really get a lot of information about that, maybe because some of it is classified. But I’m pretty sure our defense department has had some issues with this (radar interference), as well.”

Read the full article at The Sand Paper

This seaside town will power thousands of homes with waves

November 20, 2024 — At a moment when large offshore wind projects are encountering public resistance, a nascent ocean industry is showing promise: wave energy.

It’s coming to life in Newport, a rainy coastal town of nearly 10,500 people located a couple of hours south of Portland. Home to fishing operators and researchers, Newport attracts tourists and retirees with its famous aquarium, sprawling beaches and noisy sea lions. If you ask anyone at the lively bayfront about a wave energy project, they probably don’t know much about it.

And yet right off the coast, a $100 million effort with funding from the Energy Department aims to convert the power of waves into energy, and help catch up to Europe in developing this new technology. The buoy-like contraptions, located several miles offshore, will deliver up to 20 megawatts of energy — enough to power thousands of homes and businesses.

As federal officials look to shift America’s electricity grid away from fossil fuels, they are seeking alternatives to solar and wind, which can only deliver energy when the sun shines or the wind blows. Waves — constant and full of untapped energy — have emerged as a promising option. And because wave energy projects are relatively unobtrusive, they’re far less controversial than offshore wind, which has generated fierce opposition on both U.S. coasts. In September, the Biden administration announced up to $112.5 million would go toward the development of wave energy converters, the largest federal investment in marine energy.

There’s enough energy in the waves off America’s coasts to power one third of all the nation’s homes, said Matthew Grosso, the Energy Department’s director of the water power technologies office.

Spanning 2.65 square miles and located seven miles out from shore, the PacWave test site is expected to be a “game changer for marine energy,” he said in an interview.

Under the water, subsea connectors are waiting to be plugged in like extension cords to wave energy converters developed by teams around the world. With deep-sea offshore testing, companies will see how much power these energy converters can produce, whether they can hold up in rough ocean conditions, what environmental impacts they might have and how the devices will interact with each other.

Read the full article at The Washington Post

New leadership at Responsible Offshore Development Alliance

November 20, 2024 — The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) announced Tuesday that its longtime executive director Annie Hawkins will be succeeded by Lane Johnston, now policy director for the national commercial fisheries coalition.

Launched in 2017, RODA was created to advocate for commercial fishermen and their communities as the federal government and wind energy industry stepped up efforts to develop offshore renewable energy. Originally focused on the potential impacts on East Coast fishermen, RODA broadened its national advocacy and cooperative research programs to the West Coast and Gulf of Mexico.

New acting executive director Lane Johnston has been part of RODA almost from its start, “driving our advocacy as programs manager, and has a powerful record of steadfast commitment to our membership and the fishing industry,” the group said in its announcement. “With a background in marine biology and years of fisheries policy work under her belt, Lane’s institutional knowledge and expertise will guide us forward.”

Read the full article at WorkBoat

MASSACHUSETTS: Town Turns Its Attention To Next Wind Farm On The Horizon: SouthCoast Wind

November 18, 2024 — Even as the town continues to address the fallout from the July 13th blade failure at Vineyard Wind, it is now turning its attention to the next offshore wind farm slated to be built in the waters off Nantucket.

SouthCoast Wind is a 2,400 megawatt offshore wind project slated for an area approximately 23 miles southwest of the island consisting of 149 wind turbines, each standing 1,066 feet tall – even higher than Vineyard Wind’s turbines which are 853 feet tall. The project recently secured key state permits and completed an environmental review by the federal government.

The final environmental impact statement for SouthCoast Wind released by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) concluded that the visibility of SouthCoast Wind’s turbines “would have long-term, continuous, and moderate impacts on the Nantucket Historic District.”

The town is already objecting to SouthCoast Wind’s proposed mitigation efforts – just $150,000 for historic property surveys and archeological assessments – to limit the impact of the offshore energy development on the island.

Read the full article at Nantucket Current

MAINE: Ocean wind power supporters ponder future in Maine after Trump win

November 18, 2024 — On the campaign trail, president elect Donald Trump lashed out against ocean wind energy and declared he would stop the industry’s development.

But offshore wind power supporters in Maine said while they expect roadblocks ahead, a single presidential administration is unlikely to derail the state’s long-term plans.

Chris Wissemann, the CEO of Diamond Offshore Wind is clear-eyed about what a second Trump administration means for his industry.

“I think it’s inevitable that commercial scale offshore wind slows down,” Wissemann said.

But he doesn’t expect Maine’s plans to build the first floating offshore wind array in the U.S. will come to a dead stop.

Diamond Wind, a Mitsubishi Corp. subsidiary, is the state’s commercial partner on a planned 10-turbine demonstration project in leased federal water in the Gulf of Maine. It’s the first stage of the state’s plans to become a regional epicenter for a new floating offshore wind industry.

Read the full article at Maine Public

Request for Proposals: ROSA Regional Research Program

November 18, 2024 — The Responsible Offshore Science Alliance (ROSA) has released a Request for Proposals (RFP). Funding for projects awarded from the ROSA Regional Research Program for this RFP are being provided by the Empire Wind 1 project, which is being developed by Equinor, LLC, as included in the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) New York 4 solicitation for awarded Offshore Wind Renewable Energy Certificates. These regional research dollars, totaling $3,442,500 are intended to identify and fund hypothesis-driven science that follows a research plan, to leverage ongoing research and coordination activities, and to deliver timely results to inform fisheries and offshore wind planning, management, and assessment.

Please see the full Request for Proposals here.

Research Topic Areas

ROSA is offering funding toward the following research topic areas:

  1. Supporting fisheries access by enhancing our understanding of the ability of existing fisheries to operate within or near offshore wind farms and to foster the development of industry-supported innovations in gear technology, fisheries and stock enhancement, and other non-compensatory mitigation strategies. 
  2. Advancing the current state of knowledge on the potential of offshore wind development to impact the survival, transport, settlement, and distribution of commercially important fish and invertebrate larvae. 
  3. Exploring the use of available data and/or conceptual frameworks to inform regional fisheries monitoring and cumulative assessments through data integration, evaluation, and analysis.

Application Process

Applicants should submit their concept papers to ROSA by December 20, 2024 by 5pm ET to info@rosascience.org. ROSA will accept questions about the RFP until December 4, 2024 by 5 pm ET. Any changes or updates to this RFP, and answers to questions received, will be posted on ROSA’s website at https://www.rosascience.org/regional-rfp/.