| From: Eric | 5/15/2024 8:09:14 AM | | | | | | Why US offshore wind power is struggling – the good, the bad and the opportunity
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Christopher Niezrecki
May 14, 2024
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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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| From: Eric | 5/24/2024 2:11:28 PM | | | | | | Pioneering and repriced offshore wind farm gets final approval in New York
Joshua S Hill
May 24, 2024
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New York State has granted the 810MW Empire Wind offshore project its final approval, authorising the project to begin construction, nearly five years after it was selected in the state’s first offshore wind tender.
It has been a long and at times uncertain road for Empire Wind since winning the contract in mid-2019, with the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine combining to send costs soaring to the point where original developers BP and Equinor – along with Danish wind energy giant Ørsted – questioned the project’s viability.
The consortium of companies ultimately sought to renegotiate the contract for Empire wind, with the original version no longer able to cover the cost of building and financing projects due to rising inflation and shifting material costs.
The bid to adjust the prices for power generation was rejected the New York State Public Service Commission (NYSPSC) in October 2023, a decision affecting not only Empire Wind, but also the Beacon Wind offshore wind farm and Ørsted’s 880MW Sunrise Wind project.
Ørsted similarly withdrew from the Maryland Public Service Commission orders approving the 966MW Skipjack Wind project earlier this year, explaining that the original power sales contract was “no longer commercially viable because of today’s challenging market conditions, including inflation, high interest rates and supply chain constraints.”
Things began to look up in March, however, after New York State governor Kathy Hochul awarded new contracts worth just over $US150 per megawatt-hour – almost double the original strike price – for Empire Wind and the 924MW Sunrise Wind being jointly developed by Ørsted and Eversource.
The contracts were awarded as part of a fourth renewable energy auction which gave companies a chance to rebid their projects and replace existing projects.
With these updated contracts in place, progress has moved swiftly, and the NYSPSC has now granted Empire Offshore Wind its final approval to begin construction on Empire Wind I.
The NYSPSC awarded Empire Wind its Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) late last week, which authorises the construction and operation of transmission facilities for the delivery of electricity into New York from the 810MW offshore wind farm.
“Our decision today provides the last remaining approval before construction can begin on this offshore wind project, which is a high priority for the State given that it will advance the State’s renewable and clean energy goals in compliance with the Climate Act,” said Rory M. Christian, Public Service Commission chair.
“It is critical that construction begin in early May for the developer to keep the construction schedule on track and achieve the anticipated commercial operation date.”
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| From: Eric | 5/24/2024 3:27:56 PM | | | | | | Green Energy
Electrek Green Energy Brief
EGEB
Offshore wind power
wind turbine
The US’s largest offshore wind farm just got its first monopile
Michelle Lewis | May 23 2024 - 11:05 am PT
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 Photo: DEME/Linked
In In a major milestone, the 2.6-gigawatt (GW) Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW), which will be the US’s largest offshore wind farm, has installed its first monopile foundation.
The Orion, DEME Group’s heavy lift vessel, installed the monopile foundation approximately 29 miles off the Virginia Beach coast.
CVOW, which is being developed and will be owned by electric utility Dominion Energy, will feature 176 Siemens Gamesa 14 megawatt (MW) wind turbines, three offshore substations, and new onshore transmission infrastructure.
Once construction is complete in 2026, the US’s largest offshore wind farm will provide clean electricity for around 660,000 households and will support 1,100 jobs. It’s expected to generate fuel savings of $3 billion for customers during the first 10 years of operation.
The monopile foundations – steel tubes driven into the seabed to support the wind turbine generators – were manufactured by Rostock, Germany-based EEW SPC and are being staged at Portsmouth Marine Terminal.
Dominion Energy will continue to install monopiles as planned through the fall of 2024. However, it will pause all monopile installations from November 1, 2024, to April 30, 2025, to safeguard the endangered North Atlantic right whale during its migration period through the project area.
Additional protective measures for whales and other marine life include using bubble curtains – perforated hoses that pump out air to form a barrier of bubbles around the monopiles during installation – which dampen underwater sound waves. Protected Species Observers will staff vessels that will comply with speed restrictions to prevent collisions with the whales.
Robert M. Blue, Dominion Energy’s chair, president, and chief executive officer, said, “We are taking extensive precautions to ensure this project is fully protective of the environment and to protect marine species.”
Read more: This US offshore wind farm is piloting a bubble curtain – what it is and why it’s cool
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| From: Eric | 5/28/2024 9:49:51 AM | | | | | | Tasmania launches consultation on state’s first REZ in “windy north west”
Sophie Vorrath
May 28, 2024
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Tasmania has launched six weeks of consultation to finalise the boundary lines for its first Renewable Energy Zone proposed for the state’s “windy north west,” with a market offering for proponents set to follow “soon.”
The North West REZ is an area of just under 115,000 hectares proposed for on the land of the Noeteeler people, and within four municipal areas of Waratah-Wynyard, Burnie, Central Coast and Kentish (see Map above).
Tasmania energy minister Nick Duigan says the region was selected as the state’s first REZ after extensive planning and consultation. He says its proposed design is the result of 18 months of analysis and engagement with local communities.
“The North West has world-class wind resources along with the space and infrastructure for renewable energy projects, such as wind and solar farms,” Duigan said.
The minister says the REZ could also support hydrogen exports from the already majority renewables state, as well as the government’s target of 200 per cent renewables by 2040.
The North West REZ centres around major grid upgrades, known as the North West Transmission Developments (NWTD), that are considered crucial to the connection of the Marinus Link subsea cable and of new loads and renewables, including a number of large wind farms.
“Our government will underwrite transmission infrastructure between Burnie and Hampshire to support new and existing renewable energy generation projects in the region,” Duigan said last week.
At this stage, just two planned wind projects are inside the REZ boundary as it is currently proposed; Ark Energy’s up to 450MW Guildford wind farm, near Waratah, and further north the same developer’s proposed 300MW Hellyer wind farm.
The development of Marinus Link – which is in turn crucial to the so-called “Battery of the Nation” project, where Tasmania pipes excess renewables to the mainland – has been contentious, not least of all for its ballooning cost to Tasmanian energy consumers.
Also contentious are the plans for a massive $1 billion-plus, 900MW wind farm proposed for Robbins Island off north-west Tasmania, that sits outside the proposed REZ but would rely on the upgraded transmission lines and Marinus to go ahead.
Duigan says the establishment of REZs will ensure renewables are developed in the most suitable areas of Tasmania and minimise supporting transmission infrastructure.
“They can also attract industrial energy users to our state, creating more jobs for Tasmanians,” the minister said.
“Launching the consultation is the next step in delivering Tasmania’s first Renewable Energy Zone, and it is a key part of our 2030 Strong Plan for Tasmania’s Future.”
Not-for-profit group Community Power Agency says Tasmania has prioritised community engagement during their scoping and investigation phase, conducting a social feasibility study through their innovative “Mapping Important Places” platform.
“This Australian first, asked locals to identify places important to them and places that could potentially host renewable energy projects, which was then considered in the planning of the REZ.
“This means that the first ‘lines on a map’ are already informed by local communities.”
The Agency’s director, Kim Mallee, who co-authored Tasmania’s Guidelines for Community Engagement, Benefit Sharing and Local Procurement says the government has prioritised “the social elements of doing renewables well.”
“Of all the States, Tasmania understands the importance and value of maintaining social licence, and it’s clear they have designed their REZ planning process with this in mind,” Mallee says.
Consultation on the proposed REZ boundary and an associated community benefits scheme will occur over the next six weeks, “with a market offering for proponents soon to follow,” the government says.
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| From: Eric | 6/9/2024 12:09:39 PM | | | | | | Winds of fortune: Coal workers eye “jobs for life” with offshore renewables
Image: OX2
Marion Rae
June 9, 2024
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When Tony Wolfe started out as an apprentice, aged 15, at the Hazelwood coal-fired power station he had a job for life.
Now he has a six-year-old granddaughter and says he wants her to have an opportunity to enter the energy industry, with long-term career prospects, rather than have to leave her region in 10 years to find work.
“I’m a coal worker advocating for renewables, so I’m a bit of a square peg in a round hole,” he said during a visit to Parliament House in Canberra with the team behind one of Australia’s most advanced offshore wind projects.
“I’ve been advocating for renewables for about 15 years, because the writing’s been on the wall that coal is going to end.”
But he’s concerned that a decade from now, the offshore wind industry – long established elsewhere – will still be in its infancy in Australia.
“The thing that exercises my mind is the urgency with which we need to do this within Gippsland … I don’t think people understand,” Mr Wolfe said.
“We’ve got to build a complete new workforce for this industry, and we’ve got the opportunity to make that workforce truly reflective of the community that it serves, and I mean gender-balanced, diverse and flexible.”
Closure dates are in place for all of Victoria’s coal-fired power stations, including one of Australia’s biggest – Yallourn in Latrobe Valley – in 2028.
That’s just around the corner, and if the state meets its offshore wind target to make two gigawatts by 2032, it will just cover the closure of Yallourn, Mr Wolfe warned.
“The question I get asked is: why haven’t they started building yet,” he said.
Former coal worker Tony Wolfe has been advocating for renewables because “coal is going to end”. (Lukas Coch/AAP PHOTOS)
Australia’s most carbon-intensive electricity generator, Hazelwood and its coal mine were shut in 2017 and the area became a political battleground in the country’s ongoing climate wars.
Some say why not use the 800 years of coal we’re leaving in the ground, but Mr Wolfe said the best thing to happen to the region was getting the end date set in place.
Fifth-generation Novocastrian, Sharon Claydon, who is deputy speaker and federal MP for Newcastle, is equally excited about what new energy sources will bring to her region.
Once known as a steel city, BHP was Newcastle’s biggest employer until the steelworks closed in 1999, leaving a deepwater port and plenty of industrial land adjacent to a future Hunter offshore wind zone located off the coast of NSW.
“Twenty-odd years ago now, BHP, in a boardroom somewhere across the other side of the globe, made a decision that they were going to shut up shop in Newcastle and leave us,” Ms Claydon said.
“There was a bit of a divorce settlement that went on for a while, and a lot of people who don’t know Newcastle wrote us off.”
Ms Claydon says the region has a highly skilled workforce that already knows what to do with energy, a great university and TAFE, and is perfect geographically for offshore wind.
Health and education have become the biggest employers, alongside plans for a thoughtful transition in the way the area generates, stores and distributes energy, including to new advanced manufacturing workshops.
Chief executive of Southerly Ten, Charles Rattray, leads the team behind Australia’s most advanced offshore wind projects, Star of the South, located 10km off the south coast of Gippsland, which could supply one-fifth of Victoria’s electricity.
Backed by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, Southerly Ten also a proposal for Destiny Wind off the Hunter coast and the Kut-Wut Brataualung project off Wilsons Promontory in Victoria.
“If we were to build these three projects, we’re talking about thousands of jobs and over $20 billion of investment into the Australian economy,” Mr Rattray said.
“It’s a really significant, generation-changing investment in Australia’s energy transition,” he said.
Mr Rattray said offshore wind had a very special role in the electricity grid because of the way it dovetails with onshore wind.
When onshore wind is at a low ebb or when solar farms power down with the sun, offshore Gippsland wind is typically an incredible wind resource at times of peak demand, he explained.
There’s a similar characteristic ahead for Newcastle, along with what is known as solar-wind complementarity, in a national grid where different renewable electricity sources and energy storage will co-exist.
He said investors have been particularly keen to get started in Gippsland, with the state’s offshore wind targets providing certainty.
Daniel Miller, CEO of the Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation, said they have had 100 years of extractive industry.
“There’s three big holes in the ground in Latrobe Valley and also 23 oil and gas rigs offshore,” he said.
“We’ve had energy security because of that but the legacy it’s left is really significant … this opportunity can take us into the future and not have that impact to country.”
Mr Miller said offshore wind represents a “once-in-a-generation or greater” opportunity for the Gunaikurnai people who have native title over a large part of Gippsland, which is directly adjacent to the first offshore wind zone set for Australia.
“Southerly Ten have a higher social conscience and value traditional owners the way that they should,” he added.
Others are also lining up to secure licences to develop in six priority offshore wind areas, dotted around the coastline, but the NSW government has been told to get up to speed.
“The Hunter is well and truly under transition … we’ve had coal-fired power stations close, we’ve had coal mines close, we’re an industry region,” Justin Page, co-ordinator of the Hunter Jobs Alliance, said.
He said there was also a solid manufacturing base and no reason why the region couldn’t start making the wind towers.
“Aim big … there’s no reason why we can’t shoot for the stars,” Mr Page said.
The real measure of success would be the use of local companies to create long-term meaningful jobs and prosperity for our regions, he said.
It typically takes around seven to 10 years to develop an offshore wind project, and a handful of feasibility licences were recently issued.
Historically, there’s been bipartisan support with the coalition passing legislation for offshore electricity infrastructure and the Labor government putting the meat on the bones with licensing and regulations.
But the states are going at different wind speeds, with Victoria well ahead of NSW, Mr Page warned.
AAP
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| From: Ron | 6/10/2024 2:02:02 PM | | | | | | Wind turbines are not a major cause of bird deaths. If you want to protect birds, keep your cat indoors
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| From: Eric | 6/12/2024 10:35:26 AM | | | | | | Netherlands awards 4GW of offshore wind in zero-subsidy tender
Joshua S Hill
Jun 12, 2024
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Renewables
Wind
The Netherlands has awarded permits for four gigawatts (GW) of new offshore wind capacity in its latest zero-subsidy tender, with the projects to include floating solar farms, artificial reefs and a green hydrogen facility.
The two winning sites are located in the IJmuiden Ver Wind Farm Zone, around 62 kms off the Dutch coast in the North Sea. Each will boast a capacity of at least 2GW for a combined capacity of 4GW – which will provide around 14 per cent of the Netherlands current electricity consumption.
The Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) said the contracts went to two consorta that had to meet a number of criteria through their applications designed to strengthen the ecological and environmental benefits of the wind farms.
A consortium consisting of ABP, APG, and SSE Renewables won the right to develop the 2GW “Alpha” site. The “Noordzeker” consortium project will include a “living laboratory” which will build artificial reefs on over 75 per cent of the wind turbines.
Image Credit: Netherlands Enterprise Agency
Noordzeker’s plans also include turbine and wind farm designs that will contribute to the protection of birds and contains measures that will significantly reduce disturbance to marine mammals during construction and operation.
The second consortium, Zeevonk, made up of Vattenfall and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), was awarded the contract to build the IJmuiden Ver Beta wind farm.
In addition to the 2GW offshore wind farm, IJmuiden Ver Beta will also consist of a 50MW floating solar farm, the largest of its kind in the Netherlands, while a 1GW green hydrogen electrolyser will be built onshore in the port of Rotterdam.
“The Netherlands is taking yet another major step forward in the energy transition with IJmuiden Ver,” said Martijn Hagens, CEO of Vattenfall Netherlands.
“Combining wind, solar and hydrogen, this project will create a state-of-the-art energy system and support further decarbonisation of industries and our society. We are extremely proud to have been awarded this permit and look forward to implementing our plans for this energy park together with CIP.”
While there have been come concerns raised around the economic sustainability of Netherlands’ zero-subsidy tenders, this latest tender nevertheless received several bids, and both consortia have committed to paying the state for the right to develop and operate the wind farms.
“It shows that wind farms and nature can go well together and that offshore wind with smart solutions can help reduce pressure on the onshore power grid,” said Rob Jetten, the Netherlands’ minister for climate and energy.
” Market conditions have become more complicated, so I am extra happy that these parties want to build offshore wind farms!”
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