From: Eric | 4/24/2024 11:26:08 PM | | | | Denmark plans massive 10GW offshore wind tender to insure against “Putin’s black gas”
Joshua S Hill
Apr 23, 2024 5 Share via Email
Renewables Wind
The Danish Energy Agency announced this week plans for the largest offshore wind tender in the country’s history, which could see anywhere from 6GW to 10GW awarded from six new sites.
Located on the Jutland Peninsula in the North Sea, Denmark is one of this planet’s offshore wind pioneers, having built the world’s first commercial offshore wind farm back in 1991 – a 5MW project consisting of 11 wind turbines located in the shallow waters off the coast of Vindeby in the country’s southeast.
Since that time, Denmark is operating total offshore wind capacity of 2.7GW, with the 1GW Thor Offshore Wind Farm to be completed in 2027. A further 3GW is expected to be built on the Bornholm energy island being developed between the Danish Energy Agency and Danish TSO Energinet.
The Danish Energy Agency on Monday published the procurement framework for a mandated minimum of 6GW worth of offshore wind across six sites.
A new element in this latest offshore wind tender is the freedom for developers to install as much offshore wind as possible in their allotted areas (with one exception), which could see the installation of as much as 10GW of offshore wind or more.
“We’re delighted to announce the largest offshore wind procurement procedure in Denmark to date,” said Kristoffer Böttzauw, director general at the Danish Energy Agency.
“This is a massive investment in the green transition.”
The six new offshore wind sites include three wind farms at the North Sea I site as well as the Kattegat, Kriegers Flak II, and Hesselø – the latter of which is the only site with a maximum capacity of 1.2GW.

A minimum of 1GW of offshore capacity must be built at both Kriegers Flak II and the Kattegat, while a minimum of 3GW must be built at North Sea 1.
“Finally, we are able to publish the biggest offshore wind tender in Danish history,” said Lars Aagaard, Denmark’s minister for climate, energy, and utilities.
“With hundreds of wind turbines, we are insuring ourselves against Putin’s black gas, and as of today Denmark is one large step closer to becoming Europe’s green powerhouse.
“When the wind turbines are operating, we can cover all of Denmark’s power consumption with green electricity – and we can produce hydrogen and green fuels for ships and planes.
“It is projects of this scale that can make a big, green difference for the climate and our security. Not just for Denmark, but for all of Europe.”
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From: Eric | 4/30/2024 9:36:12 AM | | | | MASSIVE Storage. THIS is How To Power the Grid With 100% Renewable Energy! 
Fully Charged Show 1.05M subscribers
Big batteries are perhaps the key to making a completely renewably powered grid possible. Luckily there are already some massive ones paving the way. This week Imogen visited Europe's largest battery energy storage system, Pillswood in Hull to find out how Harmony Energy is getting as much clean energy from Dogger Bank, the world's biggest wind farm, onshore and into our homes. But these are no ordinary batteries, at 200 MWh these Tesla Megapacks are decked out with Artificial Intelligence, these are working to make the grid both renewable and flexible.
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From: Eric | 5/2/2024 8:29:24 AM | | | | Green Energy Electrek Green Energy Brief EGEB Oregon
The US just proposed 18 GW of new offshore wind sales

Michelle Lewis | May 1 2024 - 2:02 pm PT 5 Comments Hywind floating offshore wind turbine by U.S. Department of Energy is licensed under CC-CC0 1.0
The US announced two proposals for offshore wind sales that could generate more than 18 gigawatts (GW) of clean energy – enough to power more than 6 million homes.
New US offshore wind auction areas The offshore wind auction areas announced by the US Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) are off the Oregon coast and in the Gulf of Maine. It’s the first in a five-year lease schedule that could see up to 12 separate offshore wind auctions.
The US has already held four offshore wind lease auctions in the New York–New Jersey region, off the Carolinas, and off the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico coasts.
Gulf of Maine
The first-ever offshore wind energy auction in the Gulf of Maine would include eight lease areas off the Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire coasts. The nearly 1 million acres have the potential to generate approximately 15 GW of renewable energy and power more than 5 million homes.
This auction is exciting because BOEM wants to conduct simultaneous auctions for each of the eight lease areas using multiple-factor bidding.
In July 2023, Governor Janet Mills (D-ME) signed legislation to procure up to 3 GW of offshore wind energy in the Gulf of Maine by 2040. Offshore wind is banned in Maine state waters to protect the commercial lobster harvesting industry.
Oregon The proposed lease sale in Oregon includes two lease areas totaling 194,995 acres – one in the Coos Bay Wind Energy Area and the other in the Brookings Wind Energy Area – which have the potential to power more than 1 million homes with renewable energy. The areas were finalized by BOEM in February.
The Coos Bay WEA is 61,204 acres and located approximately 32 miles from shore. The Brookings WEA is 133,808 acres and approximately 18 miles off the coast.
The state of Oregon has set a goal of achieving 3 GW of offshore wind by 2030.
Due to deep waters, any offshore wind farms in the Gulf of Maine and offshore Oregon will consist of floating wind turbines.
Read more: California exceeds 100% of energy demand with renewables over a record 30 days
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From: Eric | 5/15/2024 8:09:14 AM | | | | Why US offshore wind power is struggling – the good, the bad and the opportunity
Image: Orsted Christopher Niezrecki
May 14, 2024 3 Share via Email
Renewables
Renewables>Wind
America’s first large-scale offshore wind farms began sending power to the Northeast in early 2024, but a wave of wind farm project cancellations and rising costs have left many people with doubts about the industry’s future in the U.S.
Several big hitters, including Ørsted, Equinor, BP and Avangrid, have canceled contracts or sought to renegotiate them in recent months. Pulling out meant the companies faced cancellation penalties ranging from US$16 million to several hundred million dollars per project.
It also resulted in Siemens Energy, the world’s largest maker of offshore wind turbines, anticipating financial losses in 2024 of around $2.2 billion.
Altogether, projects that had been canceled by the end of 2023 were expected to total more than 12 gigawatts of power, representing more than half of the capacity in the project pipeline.
So, what happened, and can the U.S. offshore wind industry recover?
 Estimates of the mean annual wind speeds in meters per second extending 200 kilometers from shore at a height of 330 feet (100 meters). ESMAP/The World Bank via Wikimedia, CC BY
I lead UMass Lowell’s Center for Wind Energy Science Technology and Research WindSTAR and Center for Energy Innovation and follow the industry closely. The offshore wind industry’s troubles are complicated, but it’s far from dead in the U.S., and some policy changes may help it find firmer footing.
Long approval process’s cascade of challenges Getting offshore wind projects permitted and approved in the U.S. takes years and is fraught with uncertainty for developers, more so than in Europe or Asia.
Before a company bids on a U.S. project, the developer must plan the procurement of the entire wind farm, including making reservations to purchase components such as turbines and cables, construction equipment and ships.
The bid must also be cost-competitive, so companies have a tendency to bid low and not anticipate unexpected costs, which adds to financial uncertainty and risk.
The winning U.S. bidder then purchases an expensive ocean lease, costing in the hundreds of millions of dollars. But it has no right to build a wind project yet.
 Continental shelf areas leased for wind power development along the Atlantic coast. U.S. Department of the Interior, 2024
Before starting to build, the developer must conduct site assessments to determine what kind of foundations are possible and identify the scale of the project.
The developer must consummate an agreement to sell the power it produces, identify a point of interconnection to the power grid, and then prepare a construction and operation plan, which is subject to further environmental review. All of that takes about five years, and it’s only the beginning.
For a project to move forward, developers may need to secure dozens of permits from local, tribal, state, regional and federal agencies.
The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which has jurisdiction over leasing and management of the seabed, must consult with agencies that have regulatory responsibilities over different aspects in the ocean, such as the armed forces, Environmental Protection Agency and National Marine Fisheries Service, as well as groups including commercial and recreational fishing, Indigenous groups, shipping, harbor managers and property owners.
For Vineyard Wind I – which began sending power from five of its 62 planned wind turbines off Martha’s Vineyard in early 2024 – the time from BOEM’s lease auction to getting its first electricity to the grid was about nine years.
Costs can balloon during the regulatory delays Until recently, these contracts didn’t include any mechanisms to adjust for rising supply costs during the long approval time, adding to the risk for developers.
From the time today’s projects were bid to the time they were approved for construction, the world dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation, global supply chain problems, increased financing costs and the war in Ukraine.
Steep increases in commodity prices, including for steel and copper, as well as in construction and operating costs, made many contracts signed years earlier no longer financially viable.
New and re-bid contracts are now allowing for price adjustments after the environmental approvals have been given, which is making projects more attractive to developers in the U.S. Many of the companies that canceled projects are now rebidding.
The regulatory process is becoming more streamlined, but it still takes about six years, while other countries are building projects at a faster pace and larger scale.
Shipping rules, power connections Another significant hurdle for offshore wind development in the U.S. involves a century-old law known as the Jones Act.
The Jones Act requires vessels carrying cargo between U.S. points to be U.S.-built, U.S.-operated and U.S.-owned. It was written to boost the shipping industry after World War I.
However, there are only three offshore wind turbine installation vessels in the world that are large enough for the turbines proposed for U.S. projects, and none are compliant with the Jones Act.
That means wind turbine components must be transported by smaller barges from U.S. ports and then installed by a foreign installation vessel waiting offshore, which raises the cost and likelihood of delays.
Dominion Energy is building a new ship, the Charybdis, that will comply with the Jones Act. But a typical offshore wind farm needs over 25 different types of vessels – for crew transfers, surveying, environmental monitoring, cable-laying, heavy lifting and many other roles.
The nation also lacks a well-trained workforce for manufacturing, construction and operation of offshore wind farms.
For power to flow from offshore wind farms, the electricity grid also requires significant upgrades. The Department of Energy is working on regional transmission plans, but permitting will undoubtedly be slow.
Lawsuits, disinformation add to the challenges Numerous lawsuits from advocacy groups that oppose offshore wind projects have further slowed development.
Wealthy homeowners have tried to stop wind farms that might appear in their ocean view. Astroturfing groups that claim to be advocates of the environment, but are actually supported by fossil fuel industry interests, have launched disinformation campaigns.
In 2023, many Republican politicians and conservative groups immediately cast blame for whale deaths off the coast of New York and New Jersey on the offshore wind developers, but the evidence points instead to increased ship traffic collisions and entanglements with fishing gear.
Such disinformation can reduce public support and slow projects’ progress.
Efforts to keep the offshore wind industry going The Biden administration set a goal to install 30 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2030, but recent estimates indicate that the actual number will be closer to half that.
Despite the challenges, developers have reason to move ahead.
The Inflation Reduction Act provides incentives, including federal tax credits for the development of clean energy projects and for developers that build port facilities in locations that previously relied on fossil fuel industries.
Most coastal state governments are also facilitating projects by allowing for a price readjustment after environmental approvals have been given. They view offshore wind as an opportunity for economic growth.
These financial benefits can make building an offshore wind industry more attractive to companies that need market stability and a pipeline of projects to help lower costs – projects that can create jobs and boost economic growth and a cleaner environment.
Christopher Niezrecki, Director of the Center for Energy Innovation, UMass Lowell
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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From: Eric | 5/20/2024 1:55:16 PM | | | | Are Shrouded Rooftop Wind Turbines the Future of Energy? 
Undecided with Matt Ferrell 1.4M subscribers
May 14, 2024 Is This Rooftop Turbine the Future of Energy… or an Old Idea?
A new shrouded wind turbine, the Ventum Dynamics VX175, just hit the market in February. What makes the VX175 so different is the lantern-like structure wrapped around the body: a shroud.
Shrouds are anything but a novel idea. Researchers have experimented with amplifying a turbine’s power output by covering the rotor for centuries, like Erasmus Darwin’s turbine.
How much of this new rooftop wind turbine is a new idea vs. a rehash of a much older one? And what kind of impact can it have on the future of energy?
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