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Wind industry deals with blowback from Orsted scrapping 2 wind power projects in New Jersey

November 1, 2023 — Wind energy developer Orsted is writing off $4 billion, due largely to the cancellation of two large offshore wind projects in New Jersey whose financial challenges mirror those facing the nascent industry.

It added fresh uncertainty to an industry seen by supporters as a way to help end the burning of planet-warming fossil fuels, but derided by opponents as inherently unworkable without massive financial subsidies.

The Danish company said Tuesday night it is scrapping its Ocean Wind I and II projects off the coast of southern New Jersey due to problems with supply chains, higher interest rates, and a failure to obtain the amount of tax credits the company wanted.

“These are obviously some very tough decisions,” Mads Nipper, Orsted’s CEO, said on an earnings conference call Wednesday.

He said the company, the world’s largest offshore wind developer, decided “to de-risk the most painful part of our portfolio, and that is the U.S.”

That statement went straight to the heart about concerns over the financial viability of the offshore wind industry in the northeastern U.S., which is in its infancy but has extensive plans from New England to the Carolinas.

Some projects already have been canceled, and many offshore wind developers are seeking better terms from governments with whom they have already contracted. New York rejected such a request two weeks ago.

New Jersey approved a tax break for Orsted in July, letting it keep federal tax credits that otherwise would have gone to ratepayers.

Read the full article at the Associated Press

Biden administration moves toward more wind energy in Gulf of Mexico

October 31, 2023 — The Biden administration took a step Friday to advance the development of more wind energy in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Interior Department finalized four new “wind energy areas” where it can auction off the right to set up wind power.

Together, electricity produced at the four areas could be enough to power as many as 3.23 million homes combined, according to the administration.

Three of the locations are off the coast of Texas, while one is off the coast of Louisiana.

Elizabeth Klein, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, said in a written statement that her agency is pursuing more offshore wind in the Gulf because of “continued industry interest and feedback from our partners and key stakeholders.”

Read the full article at The Hill

 

VIRGINIA: First Monopiles Arrive for Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Wind Farm

October 30, 2023 — After a seemingly endless stream of bad news for the U.S. offshore wind energy industry, elected officials, executives from Dominion Energy, the Port of Virginia, and their partners, gathered today to mark a key step forward for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project. The wind farm, which is still waiting for its final approvals and permitting, is already the largest offshore wind project under development in the U.S. and is gearing up for construction to begin after years of planning.

The first eight monopile foundations, built in Germany, arrived last week in Virginia at the staging site at the Portsmouth Marine Terminal. The massive steel constructions, each weighing around 1,500 tons, took nearly two and a half weeks by ship to reach Virginia. They are the first of the foundations for a total of 176 wind turbines that are planned for CVOW.

Read the full article at the Maritime Executive

Avangrid avoids $1 billion write-off after ending plans to build CT’s Park City Wind farm

October 28, 2023 — Avangrid reported Thursday that in canceling its Park City Wind farm for Connecticut, it sidestepped more than $1 billion in write-offs as projected costs outstripped revenue it expected under a power purchase agreement with the state.

Avangrid, a subsidiary of Spain-based Iberdrola, has its headquarters in Orange. Avangrid’s subsidiaries include United Illuminating, which owns power lines that provide electricity in the Bridgeport and New Haven metropolitan areas. UI sued the state in September after regulators denied a rate increase it had sought.

Avangrid also owns Central Maine Power, which has its headquarters in Auburn where officials issued a “shelter in place” advisory after the overnight mass shootings in adjacent Lewiston. Just after 9 a.m. on Thursday, CMP alerted customers it would coordinate with local law enforcement in responding to any outages Thursday morning.

“We have many Central Maine Power employees in Lewiston and all over Maine who are likely severely impacted by this horrible act of senseless violence,” said Avangrid CEO Pedro Azagra, speaking Thursday morning on a conference call with investment analysts. “We are monitoring the situation very closely and we are prepared to provide every resource available to our employees and our affected communities. Our hearts and thoughts from all of us at CMP, Avangrid and Iberdrola are with the Lewiston community in this difficult time.”

Avangrid unilaterally pulled the plug on the Park City Wind farm several weeks ago, as the cost of construction outstripped revenue projections from a power purchase agreement with the state of Connecticut. The companies had aimed to start construction by 2026.

In August, Avangrid restarted construction of a transmission line through Maine to feed electricity to the New England grid from hydropower plants in Canada, after a court decision in its favor. At 1,200 megawatts, the New England Clean Energy Connect lines would deliver 50 percent more power than Park City Wind at optimal wind conditions.

Read the full article at Stamford Advocate

NEW JERSEY: Former coal-fired power plant razed to make way for offshore wind electricity connection

October 26, 2023 —  For decades, tourists heading to the New Jersey beach resorts of Ocean City and Cape May saw the towering smokestack of the B.L. England Generating Station as they zipped past it on the Garden State Parkway.

The 463-foot-tall (141.1-meter) stack was a local landmark and even a weather forecaster for some residents who glanced outside to see which way emissions from its top were blowing, and how fast, as they decided what to wear for the day.

But the power plant, which burned coal and oil over the decades, closed in May 2019, a casualty of the global move away from burning fossil fuels.

And the smokestack, the last major remaining piece of the plant, was imploded Thursday morning, brought down by 350 pounds of explosives strategically placed by a demolition company known in the area for razing the former Trump Plaza casino in nearby Atlantic City in 2021.

Read the full article at the the Associated Press

MARYLAND: BOEM Hosts Offshore Wind Meeting; Public Comments Accepted Through Nov. 20

October 26, 2023 — Community members came out in droves this week to share their comments regarding an offshore wind project near Ocean City.

On Tuesday evening, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) hosted the first of two in-person public meetings regarding a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) on US Wind’s offshore wind project. Lorena Edenfield, environmental protection specialist for BOEM, said the federal agency will continue to collect comments through Nov. 20.

“Tonight, we really are here because we want to hear what we need to be including in the EIS,” she said. “We did do some scoping last year to determine what we needed to include in the draft EIS, and that really informed the process. So now we want to know how we did.”

Read the full article at the Dispatch

 

NEW YORK: NY tentatively approves 3 offshore wind farms, including Ravenswood project

October 25, 2023 — Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration gave a tentative green light Tuesday to three new wind farms off New York City’s shores, including one project that would shift the hulking Ravenswood Generating Station in Long Island City to 100% renewable energy.

The long-awaited announcement marks a major step in New York state’s continuing shift to clean energy, as it works to meet its legally mandated goal of generatng 70% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. But it also comes after Hochul vetoed a bill last week that would have fast-tracked a similar wind farm off of Long Island, and took another action in recent weeks that drew condemnation from wind-power advocates.

Once they come online in 2030, the new wind farms are expected to generate about 4 gigawatts of power, according to the state. That number jumps to 6.4 gigawatts when combined with 22 additional land-based projects also approved on Tuesday, which the Hochul administration says is enough to account for about 12% of the state’s energy needs.

“This industry continues to just blossom, and we’re continuing to make sure that we make the investments now,” Hochul told reporters after making the announcement in Long Island City.

Read the full article at the Gothamist

NEW YORK: Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoes bill that would expedite planned wind farm off Long Island

October 24, 2023 — A major renewable energy project off Long Island suffered a big blow on Friday when Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed a controversial bill that would’ve expedited a planned wind farm off Long Beach.

Residents concerned about electromagnetic fields and construction won a victory against landing an offshore wind transmission line there.

“They’ve never done this on a community like this. We were the first one, and we were essentially gonna be the guinea pig of this process going forward and we weren’t having it,” said Tim Kramer, a member of Protect Our Coast LINY.

Read the full article at CBS

MAINE: ‘Crucial’ fishing grounds excluded from federal offshore wind energy draft plan for Maine

October 23, 2023 — As Maine moves forward with future goals of offshore wind energy development, multiple stakeholders are praising the decision by a federal agency to exclude the majority of Gulf of Maine fishing grounds, known as Lobster Management Area 1, from its development proposal.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) released the draft on Thursday and the plan is now open for public review and comment. The draft of the Wind Energy Area covers more than 3.5 million acres off the shore of Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, according to an agency release. The areas included range from 23 to 120 miles off the coast.

Read the full article at New Center Maine

Press of Atlantic City: NJ residents may overpay for offshore wind energy

October 23, 2023 — The adventures of the governments and private companies creating a new offshore wind energy industry in America are continuing and far from finishing. The favorable conditions before the pandemic have crumbled in the face of higher costs for financing, for sourcing components and for securing needed approvals. That is wrecking plans for projects.

Yet there is also a sign that the necessary adjustments to current market conditions will include fixing a major mistake made by East Coast states at the start. Unfortunately, so far New Jersey officials are sticking to their outdated plan to be the first to put wind turbines into the Atlantic, which could make residents overpay for this clean energy.

At the start of summer, the New Jersey Legislature and Gov. Phil Murphy sweetened the financing for the first wind farm, off Atlantic City, by allowing Ørsted to keep federal tax credits possibly worth $1 billion that were to be passed through to ratepayers.

Read the full article at the Press of Atlantic City