Saving Seafood

Wind farm off New Jersey likely to ‘adversely affect’ but not kill whales, feds say

December 19, 2023 — The lone remaining offshore wind project in New Jersey with preliminary approval is likely to “adversely affect” whales and other marine mammals, but its construction, operation and eventual dismantling will not seriously harm or kill them, a federal scientific agency said.

In a biological opinion issued Monday night, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the Atlantic Shores project, to be built off the state’s southern coast, is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of any species of endangered whales, sea turtles, or fish.

Nor is it anticipated to destroy or adversely modify any designated critical habitat, the agency said.

Jennifer Daniels, the company’s development director, called NOAA’s decision “the next step forward” for the project.

It’s “a testament to the five years and 40-plus environmental assessments completed to ensure we are delivering safe, reliable, renewable power in a way that prioritizes responsible ocean development,” Daniels wrote.

Read the full article at the Associated Press

Wind farms will be 15 miles away. But Preservation Society says they will spoil their ‘viewshed’ | Opinion

December 19, 2023 — Bill Fitzgerald lives in Newport.

I read that the Preservation Society of Newport County is filing a lawsuit to stop or alter the wind farm being developed 15 miles out to sea. I was a little dumbfounded. How is this going to help them? Perception is everything in the tourism business and it makes the Preservation Society look like a NIMBY poster child for the fossil fuel industry.

I guess that is what the rich and powerful do if they don’t like something.

In the complaint, the Preservation Society argued that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management improperly approved the wind farms that will damage historic resources in the City of Newport, which is heavily dependent on heritage tourism. Federal law, it claimed, “makes clear that the ‘viewsheds’ of historic resources are as important as bricks and mortar. These appeals seek to preserve historic and pristine views from industrial-scale development.”

Read the full article at the Providence Journal

Scientists to study how offshore wind construction off Virginia Beach impacts fish

December 18, 2023 — Researchers with the Nature Conservancy and federal government are embarking on groundbreaking research off the coast of Virginia Beach to see how driving offshore wind turbines into the seafloor impacts fish behavior.

The research will provide guidance for how the government should craft environmental regulations for offshore wind development, which is increasing as the U.S. transitions from fossil fuel generation to renewable energy sources.

“The renewable energy sector is really critical to reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” said Kate Wilke, a marine scientist with the Nature Conservancy. “There really is a lot of scrutiny on this industry, and therefore we hope that that truly leads to better outcomes as the industry is developing and built out.”

While offshore wind has been slower to develop in the U.S. than in Europe or Asia, states along the East Coast have been racing to propose projects in recent years, especially after President Joe Biden announced a goal of having 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030. That’s enough to power roughly 10 million homes.

Virginia set its own goal of developing 5.2 gigawatts of offshore wind as part of the 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act, which seeks to decarbonize the state’s electric grid by 2050. Dominion Energy, Virginia’s largest electric utility, is currently building a 2.6 gigawatt project that is expected to be the nation’s largest offshore wind farm when it’s complete.

The $9.8 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, also known as CVOW, will construct 176 turbines about 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach. While other projects along the East Coast have stalled because of economic pressures, Dominion has said CVOW is “on-time and on-budget.”

As the utility prepares to begin the drilling needed for the turbines, the Nature Conservancy is taking the opportunity to see how all the earth-shaking activity will affect fish.

“We are going to tag animals in such a way that it gives us the opportunity to observe behavior and gain an understanding of how that behavior may or may not change before versus during that construction activity,” said Brendan Runde, another scientist with the Nature Conservancy.

Read the full article at Virginia Mercury

BOEM intends to lease more wind farm area off Delaware coast

December 18, 2023 — The U.S. Department of the Interior recently announced a proposal of another offshore wind lease sale, this time in ocean waters about 26 nautical miles from Delaware Bay.

“We are taking action to jumpstart America’s offshore wind industry and using American innovation to deliver reliable, affordable power to homes and businesses, while also addressing the climate crisis,” said Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in a prepared statement.

According to the announcement, the new areas have the potential to power more than 2.2 million homes with clean energy.

Read the full article at the Cape Gazette 

 

Blowing bubbles: Offshore wind’s new strategy to save whales

December 14, 2023 — The waters off the coast of New England have gotten noisier in the last year as the nation’s first-ever large-scale offshore wind farms began pile driving steel turbines into the ocean floor.

But developers say they have a way to blunt the deafening sound for whales, dolphins and the endangered species of the northern Atlantic: blowing bubbles.

“Pile driving in the ocean is very, very noisy,” said Richard Hine, whose maritime company ThayerMahan Offshore is the first U.S. firm to pilot “bubble curtains” for wind turbine construction. The walls of air bubbles help absorb sound energy. “You can knock out about 80 to 90 percent of the acoustic energy and get it below levels where they’re harmful to marine mammals,” Hine said.

Read the full article at E&E News

Opponents say Dominion’s offshore wind farm endangers whales. Scientists reject the claim.

December 11, 2023 — A series of whale deaths along the East Coast early this year has spurred an ongoing dispute over the burgeoning offshore wind industry.

Several of the deaths happened in Virginia Beach and Cape Charles. Two were humpbacks; one was a critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whale, later determined to have been struck by a vessel. Another right whale was also caught entangled in fishing line off the Outer Banks.

Around the same time, more than a dozen humpback whales were found dead along the coasts of New Jersey and New York over the span of a few months – the latest in what scientists call an “unusual mortality event” stretching back to 2016. Warming waters driven by climate change are bringing humpbacks closer to shore, while cargo shipments carried on big ships are also on the rise.

Scientists later said most of the deaths were caused by ship strikes.

But some local politicians and national conservative pundits pointed the finger somewhere else: offshore wind development.

More than a dozen offshore wind projects are in various stages of permitting along the East Coast. The Biden administration considers the nascent industry a key part of its climate policy, setting a goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of electricity generated from offshore wind farms by 2030, or enough to power more than 10 million homes.

In January, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson accused offshore wind projects of killing “a huge number of whales” on his show. Fox News also linked the right whale death in Virginia Beach to Dominion Energy’s project.

Thirty mayors in New Jersey called for a moratorium on offshore wind activity until further investigation into the whale deaths. The uproar also fueled a few “save the whales” rallies, including in New Jersey and Rhode Island.

Read the full article at WHRO

U.S. gives final nod to Rhode Island’s $1.5 billion offshore wind farm

December 8, 2023 — The U.S Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council on Thursday approved the construction of a $1.5 billion offshore wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island.

The project, Revolution Wind, is run by Danish company Orsted and U.S.-based Eversource, and would bring a total of 704 megawatts (MW) clean energy to Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Another offshore project by the two wind energy developers, the South Fork wind farm off the coast of New York, delivered its first power to the state’s power grid on Wednesday.

Read the full story at CNBC

 

Decades after Europe, turning blades send first commercial offshore wind power onto US grid

December 7, 2023 — Despite some recent financial setbacks, U.S. offshore windpower has hit a milestone. An 800-foot tall turbine is now sending electricity onto the grid from a commercial-scale offshore wind farm on pace to be the country’s first.

The moment is years in the making and at the same time a modest advance in what experts say needs to be a major buildout of this type of clean electricity to address climate change.

Danish wind energy developer Ørsted and the utility Eversource announced Wednesday the first electricity from what will be a 12-turbine wind farm called South Fork Wind 35 miles (56 kilometers) east of Montauk Point, New York. It will be New York’s first offshore wind farm.

Read the full story at the AP

New Bedford South End Wind Turbine Just a Temporary Research Project

December 5, 2023 — There was some concern Monday morning regarding an offshore wind project happening down in the Clark’s Cove area of New Bedford’s South End, with rumors that a wind turbine was being erected off the shores of West Beach without any notification to the public.

However, what is being launched today is actually a prototype of a floating offshore wind turbine. The aluminum and fiberglass structure weighs 1,500 pounds and sits on a 19 foot-by-19 foot square platform, with a hub height of 27 feet off the water.

The blades on the turbine are 12 feet long, so when a blade is in the 12 o’clock position, the entire height of the structure will be 39 feet. It is 1/16th scale of a full-sized turbine.

The structure is being launched as a prototype demonstration by T-Omega Wind to study the effect of the wind and waves on the anchors for these floating offshore wind turbines. It is expected to last roughly 60 days, depending on the weather.

Read the full story at WBSM

 

New Jersey Plans to Restart Offshore Wind in 2024 After “Bump in the Road”

December 4, 2023 — The Governor of New Jersey is looking to restart his state’s offshore wind programs reiterating that they remain committed to offshore wind as a key component of the state’s renewable energy program. The state said the governor’s action reaffirmed its overall commitment to achieving 100 percent clean energy by 2035 and developing the economy by building the industry and its supporting supply chain.

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) was directed by the governor to accelerate the timeline of the state’s fourth offshore wind solicitation. Originally scheduled for the summer of 2024, Governor Phil Murphy on November 29 directed NJBPU to launch the next offshore wind solicitation in early 2024. However, the state does not expect to announce the awards in early 2025 for projects that will not be operational till 2032.

“I have directed the BPU to take this action in recognition of the strong future of New Jersey’s offshore wind industry,” said Governor Murphy. “New Jersey can – and will – continue to remain a burgeoning offshore wind development hub that attracts new projects and their accompanying economic and environmental benefits for generations to come.”

Read the full story at The Maritime Executive