Vineyard Wind Archives - Saving Seafood

Vineyard Wind Biologist Talks Common Ground with Fishing Industry

February 21, 2020 — With about 20 years of experience on the seas, Crista Bank has worked in academia as a fisheries biologist, conducted research with commercial fishermen, earned her 100-ton U.S. Coast Guard captain’s license, journeyed across the globe aboard traditional sailing vessels and taught marine science in New England, Southern California and the Florida Keys.

In May 2018, she became a fisheries liaison for Vineyard Wind, an offshore wind developer based in New Bedford where she grew up and now lives. The company has two projects in the works — Vineyard Wind I, a 800-megawatt project off the coast of Massachusetts and Park City Wind, an 804-megawatt project for the Bridgeport region.

According to Bank, the “big objective” is communication between fishermen and Vineyard Wind.

“Some of it is teaching two industries about [each other] because the fishermen don’t totally understand offshore wind and developers don’t understand the fishing industry, so my job is to try to have both industries understand the other a little bit better,” she said.

The main purpose of her job is to make sure the developers at Vineyard Wind are receiving accurate information about the fishermen’s concerns and how the fishing industry might be impacted by offshore wind. She also relays information to the fishermen about offshore wind projects and Vineyard Wind’s work “to make sure that the fishermen are not going to be pushed out of their industry,” which she said has been beleaguered by multiple challenges.

Read the full story at The Connecticut Examiner

Vineyard Wind facing lots of hurdles

February 19, 2020 — A federal regulator speaking at a conference in Boston on Tuesday posted a slide suggesting Vineyard Wind would be operational in 2023, but the company itself is not saying whether its wind farm will be generating electricity by then.

Vineyward Wind originally hoped to begin construction in 2019 and have half the 800 megawatt wind farm up and running by January 15, 2022, and the remaining half a year later. That timetable was dashed when the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management put the project on hold in August 2019 to allow for a broader review of the cumulative impact of the many wind farms being proposed along the East Coast. Last week, the federal agency said its review of Vineyard Wind would be completed this December.

Jim Bennett, the program manager of the renewable energy program at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, gave a slide presentation at a wind energy conference sponsored by the University of Delaware that listed 2023 as the year when Vineyard Wind would be operational. He then quickly added: “Please don’t take these dates as absolutes. They’re estimates based on our regulatory programs.”

The timing issue is significant for the nation’s first large-scale wind farm. Last year, when the project was put on hold, Vineyard Wind said it needed a quick resolution of the federal environmental review or the project might collapse. Since then, the company has indicated its construction plans are moving forward, but officials have declined to comment on how they intend to overcome the many hurdles caused by the regulatory delay.

Read the full story at Commonwealth Magazine

Orsted updates South Fork wind farm plan amid concerns about delays

February 19, 2020 — Danish energy giant Orsted has filed an update to the construction and operation plan for its proposed South Fork wind farm, amid doubts by opponents and a state lawmaker that it will hit its contracted December 2022 completion date.

The proposed South Fork Wind Farm, a joint venture of Orsted USA and Eversource, last year announced plans to update its construction and operations plan for the project, which would be located in federal waters 30 miles from Montauk Point. Despite the filing last Friday, a federal website lists the project review status as “paused.”

It’s uncertain how comprehensive the revised construction plan is, or specifically what’s in it. Asked for details, Orsted spokeswoman Meaghan Wims would say only that the updated plan includes wider turbine spacing of “1 nautical mile by 1 nautical mile.”

Nor would she say whether the update would impact permitting or construction timelines. Delays in a federal review of a separate project by rival developer Vineyard Wind have pushed its scheduled completion beyond its planned date in 2022.

“We continue to monitor developments at the federal level,” Wims said in a statement. “While it is too early to say the exact impact that those delays may have on our timeline, we are watching the federal permitting process closely.”

Read the full story at Newsday

Political Interference Blamed for Vineyard Wind Delays

February 18, 2020 — Vineyard Wind is coming to terms with the fact that its wind project is behind schedule, as accusations of political meddling escalate.

On Feb. 7, the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) released an updated permitting guideline that moved the facility’s likely completion date beyond Jan. 15, 2022 — the day the $2.8 billion project is under contract to begin delivering 400 megawatts of electricity capacity to Massachusetts.

Vineyard Wind is now renegotiating its power-purchase agreement with the three utilities that are buying the electricity. The company is also in discussions with the Treasury Department about preserving an expiring tax credit.

The delay is being caused by a holdup with BOEM’s environmental impact statement (EIS). A draft of the report was initially expected last year, but after the National Marine Fisheries Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declined to endorse the report, it was pushed off until late 2019 or early 2020. Back then several members of Congress from Massachusetts claimed the delay was politically motivated.

Read the full story at EcoRI

BOEM issues new timeline for offshore wind review

February 14, 2020 — The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has pushed back to December 2020 a final environmental impact statement on the Vineyard Wind offshore wind energy project, meaning backers of the 800-megawatt development off southern New England will miss their 2022 target to start making electricity.

Preliminary findings from that study – examining the potential cumulative effects of Vineyard Wind and more than a dozen other utility-scale projects planned off the East Coast – were originally anticipated for completion in March 2020. Rumors in the offshore industry circulated in late 2019 that the process could extend into late 2020, but regulators confirmed Feb. 11 they have been pushed back that to June 12 – with a final decision by Dec. 18.

“While we need to analyze what a longer permitting timeline will need for beginning construction, commercial operation in 2022 is no longer expected,” said Lars Pedersen, CEO of Vineyard Wind, in a Feb. 11 response to the agency update. “We look forward to the clarity that will come with a final EIS so that Vineyard Wind and deliver this project to Massachusetts and kick off the new U.S. offshore wind industry.”

Read the full story at WorkBoat

Vineyard Wind project delayed

February 12, 2020 — Vineyard Wind, the company developing an offshore wind farm that was the subject of a protracted dispute with Rhode Island fishermen, is pushing back the expected date of operation for the $2.8-billion project.

The company says that because of delays in permitting it will not be able to make its 2022 target date to go on line.

“We have received updated information from the Department of Interior that indicates the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Vineyard Wind I project will be published later than what was previously anticipated,” Lars Pedersen, CEO of Vineyard Wind, said in a statement on Tuesday.

“While we need to analyze what a longer permitting timeline will mean for beginning construction, commercial operation in 2022 is no longer expected,” he continued. “We look forward to the clarity that will come with a final EIS so that Vineyard Wind can deliver this project to Massachusetts and kick off the new US offshore energy industry.”

Read the full story at the Providence Journal

The Vineyard Wind project is getting delayed — again

February 12, 2020 — The planned offshore wind farm south of Martha’s Vineyard has hit yet another setback.

After receiving notice that federal officials won’t decide on a key permit until more than 16 months later than expected, Vineyard Wind CEO Lars Pedersen says the project — originally slated to be operational next year — isn’t expected to produce power until sometime beyond 2022.

“While we need to analyze what a longer permitting timeline will mean for beginning construction, commercial operation in 2022 is no longer expected,’ he said. “We look forward to the clarity that will come with a final EIS so that Vineyard Wind can deliver this project to Massachusetts and kick off the new US offshore energy industry.”

Read the full story at Boston.com

Massachusetts lawmakers, Trump administration spar over Vineyard Wind review

February 7, 2020 — Nine members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation asked the General Accountability Office to investigate whether the Trump administration’s extended environmental review of the Vineyard Wind project reflects a bias against renewable energy – an allegation a spokeswoman for the Department of Interior dismissed as “unfounded and uninformed.”

In a letter to the General Accountability Office, the Massachusetts lawmakers questioned the quick turnaround time for environmental reviews of fossil fuel projects, while the proposed Vineyard Wind project is facing a sweeping, extended review that “threatens to stall or even derail this growing industry.”

“We are particularly concerned that there is a ‘double standard’ at play in which fossil fuel projects are expedited while renewable energy projects are delayed,” the lawmakers wrote.

Read the full story at Commonwealth Magazine

For offshore wind, expect more delays

February 4, 2020 — Federal agencies assessing the environmental impact of Vineyard Wind are now expecting the long-delayed process to wrap up sometime in December, according to a top Baker administration official.

The Vineyard Wind project was put on hold indefinitely in August 2019 when the federal government decided to supplement its environmental impact review with a study of the cumulative impact of the many wind farms being proposed along the eastern seaboard. The impact of wind farms on fishermen is a focus of that supplemental review.

Kathleen Theoharides, the governor’s secretary of energy and environmental affairs, said on Monday that federal agencies have developed a new timetable for the review of the Vineyard Wind project that calls for the work to be wrapped up by the end of the year.

That timetable is problematic for wind farm developers up and down the coast, but especially for the two companies that have been awarded power purchase contracts by Massachusetts utilities and are eager to begin construction. The lengthy delay also pushes back the starting point for delivery of wind power that is badly needed if Massachusetts is going to meet its greenhouse gas emissions targets.

Read the full story at Commonwealth Magazine

Pending Federal Report Key to Offshore Wind’s Future

January 13, 2020 — The forthcoming report from the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) on the cumulative environmental impacts of the Vineyard Wind project will determine the future of offshore wind development.

BOEM’s decision isn’t just the remaining hurdle for the 800-megawatt project, but also the gateway for 6 gigawatts of offshore wind facilities planned between the Gulf of Maine and Virginia. Another 19 gigawatts of Rhode Island offshore wind-energy goals are expected to bring about more projects and tens of billions of dollars in local manufacturing and port development.

Some wind-energy advocates have criticized BOEM’s 11th-hour call for the supplemental analysis as politically motivated and excessive.

Safe boat navigation and loss of fishing grounds are the main concerns among commercial fishermen, who have been the most vocal opponents of the 84-turbine Vineyard Wind project and other planned wind facilities off the coast of southern New England.

Last month, state Sen. Susan Sosnowski, D-New Shoreham, gave assurances that the Coast Guard will not be deterred from conducting search and rescue efforts around offshore wind facilities, as some fishermen have feared.

Read the full story at EcoRI