Saving Seafood

N.J. Amps Up Wind Fight, Overriding Beach Towns Balking at Farms

July 23, 2021 — Offshore wind farm developers are finding one more thing in common with the fossil fuel industry: community backlash on both sides of the Atlantic.

Much like the resistance to fracking in parts of the U.S. and the U.K., oceanfront towns have fought against power lines running ashore from wind farms, even as the massive turbines themselves are mostly out of sight. In a dramatic move Thursday, New Jersey’s Democratic Governor Phil Murphy signed legislation that strips coastal communities of the right to block buried power lines for projects like Orsted A/S’s Ocean Wind 1 off the state’s coast.

The willingness to squash local opposition highlights one of the dilemmas faced by nations that are aggressively pushing to fight climate change: How to build big clean-power projects quickly when dealing with not-in-my-backyard sentiment. Denmark’s Orsted has repeatedly come across backlash against its wind farms, as have General Electric Co., France’s Alstom SA, Spain’s Iberdrola SA and Sweden’s Vattenfall AB.

“We’re not going to let NIMBYism shut this down,” said state Senator Stephen Sweeney, a sponsor of the legislation and New Jersey’s highest-ranking lawmaker. He added that some residents of Ocean City, a hotbed of opposition in the state, told him they could kill offshore wind. “Ocean City doesn’t get to make the decision for the entire state of New Jersey on a policy initiative. They just don’t.”

Read the full story at Bloomberg

DELAWARE: A much bigger wind farm could be coming to the Delmarva coast

July 21, 2021 — The company developing a wind farm off the coast of southern Delaware and Maryland is hoping to start a second one. It could be several times the size of the first.

Ørsted’s 120-megawatt Skipjack wind farm under development off the Delmarva coast is not expected to come online for another 5 years. But the Danish renewable energy company has already submitted a bid to the Maryland Public Service Commission to build Skipjack Wind 2. At 760 megawatts, more than six times the size of Skipjack 1, the proposed Skipjack Wind 2 could power up to 250,000 homes on the peninsula.

The renewable energy credits from both projects would go to Maryland. But Ørsted’s Mid-Atlantic Market Manager Brady Walker said at a virtual open house Monday Delaware will still benefit—from things like a “supplier day” the company hosted in Bethany beach.

“That’s a great example of, whether it’s a small business or someone that wants to be employed or get otherwise involved in the industry, where you can come and meet our prime contractors and find out how you can bid for business and become part of the industry,” he said.

At this point, Skipjack 2 is just a proposal. Walker told members of the public that its size is not set in stone.

Read the full story at DPM

Landmark bid would expand Ocean City offshore wind energy

July 15, 2021 — Ørsted, a Denmark-based company, has announced its plans to expand the Delmarva Peninsula’s wind energy operations in a bid submitted July 7 to the Maryland Public Service Commission.

The Skipjack Wind 2 site is slated to produce 760 megawatts of energy, which could power 250,000 homes in the region. The project would add to an already robust wind energy portfolio for the company that is already the largest in the nation.

 “Ørsted is privileged to already be a long-term partner to the state of Maryland as it works to meet its offshore wind goals,” David Hardy, CEO of Ørsted Offshore North America, said in a released statement.

According to a company spokesperson, the next step in the process is holding meetings with community stakeholders in both Maryland and Delaware to discuss the timeline and details of the project.

Read the full story at Delaware Online

Over 200 Offshore Wind Turbines Approved on the New Jersey Coast

July 15, 2021 — New Jersey paved the way for hundreds of wind turbines off the state’s coast in the coming years with 2,658 MW of offshore wind approval on Wednesday.

Two wind projects have been approved, providing enough electricity for 1.1 million households, officials said.

The approval will be added to the 1,100 MW already approved by the Public Utility Commission of New Jersey, which announced the approval of the new project at a special meeting. New Jersey currently approves more offshore wind than any other state.

The two projects are a 110-turbine wind farm by Atlantic Shores owned by European utilities Shell New Energies US and EDF Renewables North America, and an 82-turbine wind farm by Ørsted called Ocean Wind 2.

The Atlantic Shores farm is about 10.5 miles from the coast of the coastal town north of Atlantic City. Ørsted’s Ocean Wind 2 is about 14 miles from Cape May.

However, a huge amount of power still needs to pass federal permits and overcome potential hurdles such as fishing and proceedings from coastal areas. Neither offshore wind farm is scheduled to begin construction by mid-2023 at the earliest, and the two latest projects are not expected to be online by 2027 at the earliest.

Read the full story at Pennsylvania News Today

Wind power expansion in Maryland would power more than 250,000 Delmarva homes, per Ørsted

July 8, 2021 — The developer of a wind farm near Ocean City says it has submitted a bid to the Maryland Public Service Commission for a new Round 2 offshore wind project.

Ørsted said in a release that its Skipjack Wind 2 project for up to 760 megawatts will power more than  250,000 Delmarva homes.

It said the bid is in response to the Maryland commission’s call for proposals for Round 2 offshore wind projects, through which the commission can award at least 1,200 megawatts of Offshore Wind Renewable Energy Credits.

Ørsted is currently developing Skipjack Wind 1, a 120-megawatt offshore wind farm off the coast of Ocean City.

Read the full story at the Salisbury Daily Times

Orsted submits bid to develop offshore windfarm in Maryland

July 8, 2021 — Denmark’s wind farm developer Orsted (ORSTED.CO) on Wednesday said it had submitted a bid to develop the Skipjack Wind 2 offshore wind farm in the state of Maryland in the United States.

The world’s largest offshore wind farm developer, which is already developing the 120-MW Skipjack Wind Farm 1 off the Maryland-Delaware coast, said the project could be up to 760 megawatts in size.

In the bidding round, at least 1,200-MW of offshore wind energy certificates can be awarded, Orsted said.

Read the full story at Reuters

Latest offshore wind award to triple megawatts off South Jersey

July 1, 2021 — The state awarded the right to build another 2,600 megawatts of offshore wind electric generation to two companies Wednesday, a milestone Gov. Phil Murphy celebrated during his regular COVID-19 media briefing.

“We just approved the largest combined offshore wind award in history,” Murphy said of the action by the state Board of Public Utilities on Wednesday morning. “It will triple our total capacity and strengthen our commitment to securing good union jobs and make New Jersey a national leader in the offshore wind industry.”

BPU President Joe Fiordaliso, who attended Murphy’s briefing, said Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind will build a 1,510 megawatt farm off the coast between Long Beach Island and Atlantic City, and Ørsted’s Ocean Wind will build 1,148 megawatts of the new solicitation in its leasing area in federal waters southeast of Atlantic City.

“Combined, once these turbines are in the water, they will supply power to 1.1 million homes in New Jersey,” Fiordaliso said.

Read the full story at the Press of Atlantic City

New Jersey awards 2,658 megawatts in biggest U.S. pact

July 1, 2021 — The EDF/Shell Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind venture and a second phase of Ørsted’s Ocean Wind project were awarded a combined 2,658 megawatts of capacity by New Jersey utilities regulators Wednesday, in what state officials call the largest U.S. combined award to date.

The vote by the state Board of Public Utilities raises the state’s total planned capacity to over 3,700 MW, nearly half of a goal of 7,500 MW by 2035 set by Gov. Phil Murphy.

The board allocated 1,510 MW to Atlantic Shores and 1,148 MW to Ocean Wind II for their neighboring federal leases off Long Beach Island and Atlantic City, N.J.

Both developers will build new manufacturing facilities at the New Jersey Wind Port planned at the mouth of the Delaware River in Salem County, and use a foundation manufacturing facility upriver at the Port of Paulsboro, state officials said. Those projects are projected to be commissioned in 2027 through 2029.

“Combined, the two projects are estimated to create 7,000 full- and or part-time jobs across the development, construction and operational phases of the projects. This yields approximately 56,000 full time equivalent job-years, as some jobs will be shorter term and others will last for many years,” according to a BPU statement. “They will also generate $3.5 billion in economic benefits and power 1.15 million homes with clean energy.”

The BPU agreement requires the developers to contribute $10,000 per megawatt of capacity – some $26 million in all – to fund environmental research initiatives and wildlife and fishery monitoring in the region, with the money administered by the BPU and state Department of Environmental Protection.

Read the full story at WorkBoat

NEW JERSEY: Bill would pre-empt local say over offshore wind projects

June 16, 2021 — New Jersey lawmakers are considering a law that would fast-track offshore wind energy projects by removing the ability of local governments to control power lines and other onshore components.

The bill, introduced last week and advanced on Tuesday, would give wind energy projects approved by the state Board of Public Utilities authority to locate, build, use and maintain wires and associated land-based infrastructure as long as they run underground on public property including streets. (The BPU could determine that some above-ground wires are necessary.)

It appears to be an effort to head off any local objections to at least one wind power project envisioned to come ashore at two former power plants, and run cables under two of the state’s most popular beaches.

At a virtual public hearing in April on the Ocean Wind project planned by Orsted, the Danish wind energy developer, and PSEG, a New Jersey utility company, officials revealed that the project would connect to the electric grid at decommissioned power plants in Ocean and Cape May Counties.

The northern connection would be at the former Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in Lacey Township; the southern connection would be at the former B.L. England plant in Upper Township.

Cables running from the wind farm, to be located between 15 and 27 miles (24 to 43 kilometers) off the coast of Atlantic City, would come ashore at one of three potential locations in Ocean City: 5th Street, 13th Street or 35th Street. They would then run under the roadway along Roosevelt Boulevard out to Upper Township and the former power plant, which closed in 2019.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

South Fork wind farms reduce turbines, but fisheries groups have “serious concerns”

June 10, 2021 — The developers of the offshore wind farm, which will power South Fork, agreed to reduce the number of turbines in the LIPA contracted project from 15 to 12, but Road Island fishermen said turbines. The reduction was useless and provided a $ 12 million compensation package. Insufficient packaging.

Orsted and Eversource are partners in more than $ 2 billion of projects to be built off the coast of Rhode Island and Massachusetts by 2023, and are considering whether to issue a permit for the project. Prior to the Coastal Commission, we announced the changes last week.

In a statement, the two companies said they would “move forward by reducing the total number of turbines in the project from 15 to 12” while providing compensation packages to Rhode Island fishermen. If $ 12 million is accepted, the two companies will move forward. In particular, it will compensate for the loss of income of those who have been banned from fishing due to the construction and installation of turbines.

Read the full story at the Florida News Times