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18283
From: Captainj, [DNS_Address]
Subject: America’s Offshore Wind Farms Face Headwinds
URL: Link
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Plans for massive offshore wind farms that President Joe Biden hopes will power as many as 10 million American homes by 2030 are starting to wobble. On Monday, New Jersey utility Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. said it’s deciding whether to pull out of Ocean Wind 1, a proposed project in the Atlantic Ocean that would generate 1.1 gigawatts — enough for 500,000 homes. Less than two weeks earlier, New England utility Avangrid Inc. said its similarly sized Commonwealth Wind project was no longer viable because of higher costs and supply chain woes. Offshore wind projects are “facing a number of headwinds,” said Timothy Fox, vice president of the Washington-based energy research firm Clearview Energy Partners, and it’s possible “other projects get delayed.” Soaring inflation, rising interest rates and supply chain snarls around the world are threatening to hobble the offshore wind boom that both federal and local policy makers have been planning for years off the US East Coast. While offshore farms are seen as critical to ridding the US power grid of fossil fuels and avoiding the worst effects of climate change, they’re also extremely capital and labor intensive. The Ocean Wind 1 project, for example, wouldn’t be ready to start delivering power until late 2024. A representative for PSEG said by email that the company has been reviewing its 25% equity stake in Ocean Wind 1, majority-owned by the Danish energy giant Orsted AS, on an ongoing basis. PSEG Chief Executive Ralph LaRossa said on a call with investors Monday that the company was reviewing the costs of the project, and another executive said not going forward with the project was an option on the table. In July, David Hardy, chief executive of Orsted Offshore North America, was quoted by Recharge, a renewable-energy news outlet, telling attendees at a conference that surging inflation presents a real challenge to the company’s short-term plans for offshore wind in the US. The review by PSEG comes less than two weeks after Avangrid, which is majority-owned by Spanish energy company Iberdrola SA, told Massachusetts regulators that its 1.2-gigawatt Commonwealth Wind project is no longer economic under current power-purchase agreements. Higher prices and ongoing supply chain constraints are straining the project’s finances, the project’s lawyers said in an Oct. 20 filing. “Global commodity price increases, in part due to ongoing war in Ukraine, sharp and sudden increases in interest rates, prolonged supply chain constraints, and persistent inflation have significantly increased the expected cost of constructing the project,” the attorneys said in the filing. Avangrid said last month that it was pushing back by a year the startup dates for both Commonwealth and another wind project, Park City, due to headwinds including inflation and higher interest rates, supply chain shortages, problems with resources and rising commodity prices. All of the wind farms have been in the works for years, and their financial models have shifted in the face of rising interest rates, inflation and supply-chain bottlenecks, said Paul Patterson, an analyst for Glenrock Associates. “These are complicated and expensive projects,” he said. |
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[18284]
18284
From: Captainj, [DNS_Address]
Subject: BOEM designates two wind energy areas in the Gulf of Mexico
URL: Link
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As part of the Biden-Harris administration’s goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced it has finalized two Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) in the Gulf of Mexico, with the potential to produce enough clean wind energy to power nearly three million homes. The first WEA is located approximately 24 nautical miles off the coast of Galveston, Texas. The area totals 508,265 acres and has the potential to power 2.1 million homes. The second WEA is located approximately 56 nautical miles off the coast of Lake Charles, La. The area totals 174,275 acres and has the potential to power over 740,000 homes Maps of the areas can be found on BOEM’s website. Under President Biden’s leadership, the administration has approved the nation’s first large-scale offshore wind projects, held record-breaking lease sales, and ushered in billions of dollars in private investment. This growing industry will provide Americans with cleaner and cheaper energy, create thousands of good- paying jobs, and invest billions in new American energy supply chains, manufacturing, shipbuilding and servicing. BOEM uses its renewable energy competitive leasing process to identify the offshore locations that appear most suitable for development, taking into consideration potential impacts to resources and ocean users. BOEM collaborated with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to build an ocean model that analyzed the entire Gulf of Mexico ecosystem to find areas that have the least conflict with other uses and the lowest environmental impact. “These two wind energy areas represent exciting progress toward having the first offshore wind lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico, where there is a mature industry base and the know how to advance energy development in the OCS. The region can play a central role in our nation’s clean energy transition to support good paying jobs, fight climate change,” BOEM Director Amanda Lefton, said in a statement announcing the designated wind energy areas. “BOEM will continue to work with the coastal states and communities as we advance our work and do so in a manner that seeks to avoid or minimize conflicts with other ocean uses and marine life in the Gulf of Mexico.” In July 2022, the Department of the Interior announced that BOEM was seeking input on two draft WEAs during a 30-day public comment period. Due to feedback received during a Gulf of Mexico Renewable Energy Task Force meeting, BOEM extended the comment period to 45 days, which closed on Sept. 2, 2022. BOEM received 107 comments, which helped inform the final WEAs. BOEM slightly reduced the size of the WEAs from their draft versions to address concerns expressed by the Department of Defense and the U.S. Coast Guard regarding shipping, marine navigation, and military operations. The next steps in BOEM’s renewable energy competitive leasing process include issuing a Proposed Sale Notice with a 60-day public comment period later this year or early next year. |
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