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Kennedy Corn
This article updates Denmark's Ørsted's financial troubles, the recent BOEM auction and the boycott of Maryland Governor Wes Moore. Currently, there are less than 50 megawatts of offshore wind installations in operation, while the Biden-Harris administration aims to reach 30,000 megawatts by 2030.
oersted
Denmark's Ørsted, the world's leading offshore wind power developer, lost $575 million in the second quarter. The losses were partly due to disappointing developments in the U.S.
The company has delayed commercial operations of its 704-megawatt Revolution wind project off the coast of Rhode Island and Connecticut from 2025 to 2026. The U.S. offshore wind power plan has been lagging behind.
A year after the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)'s Gulf of Mexico lease auction failed to attract significant interest, BOEM continues to delay another attempt to find enough bidders on the East Coast.
Reuters summarized Ørsted's questions:
Ørsted's impairment losses were also related to the halt in development of the US Ocean Wind project last year, rising US interest rates and the decision to halt development of the green e-methanol FlagshipOne project in Sweden due to open next year. Shares in Ørsted, once favored by green investors, ended up falling 7.2%, after falling as much as 9.3%. They are still worth less than a third since their peak in early 2021.
BOEM Auction
March, Bohemian style It sparked interest in another Gulf of Mexico auction, leading to industry dissatisfaction. The agency stated on July 26,
Received 25 comments in response to March 2024 [Proposed Sale Notice]one company expressed interest in participating. As a result, BOEM canceled the sale due to lack of competitive interest. BOEM may decide to move forward with lease sales in the future based on industry interest.
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BOEM held lease sales last week (Aug. 14) in the mid-Atlantic region near Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, attracting buyers.
norwegian Equinor wind Won a temporary lease for 101,443 acres approximately 26 nautical miles off Delaware for $75 million. Dominion Energy's Virginia Power subsidiary won a temporary lease for 176,505 acres 35 miles from the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay for $18 million. Six companies participated in the auction.
Equinor's lease is not far from federal leases for Baltimore-based US Wind's proposed two-phase, 2-gigawatt project near Ocean City, Maryland. BOEM released the Maryland project's final environmental impact report last month (July 29). Maryland also issued renewable energy certificates for the American Wind Energy Project.
According to BOEM, U.S. wind energy
There are plans to install up to 114 turbines, up to four offshore substation platforms, a meteorological tower and up to four offshore export cable corridors that will land at Delaware Seaside State Park. The lease area is approximately 8.7 nautical miles from the coast of Maryland and approximately 9 nautical miles from the coast of Sussex County, Delaware, closest to the coast.
US Wind is also working with Spain's Haizea Windgroup to develop a plant to manufacture monopile foundations for wind projects in Baltimore's Sparrows Point, once home to Bethlehem Steel, which at the time was the world's largest steel plant. According to the company
“Sparrows Point Steel is poised to become the best heavy-duty logistics and manufacturing facility for offshore wind on the East Coast. Haizea's deep knowledge and expertise will solidify Maryland's position as the center of U.S. offshore wind manufacturing.”
Maryland Governor Wes Moore vs. Critics
Maryland Democratic Gov. Wes Moore faced opponents last week (August 16) when he aggressively promoted offshore wind power plans in Ocean City. Local station WBOC spoke with Moore about the growing local opposition in Maryland's Eastern Shore, Delaware and Virginia. Earlier this month, Moore signed a memorandum of understanding with BOEM to open more offshore federal lands to wind energy development. Last year, Maryland passed a new law expanding the state's offshore wind development target to 8.5 gigawatts.
“You're talking about being able to power 3 million homes in Maryland and make us a net exporter of clean energy,” Moore told WBOC. “It's exciting, it's new jobs, it's new opportunities.”
Many people on the East Coast, especially those who rely on the Chesapeake Bay for their livelihoods, believe that booming wind farms could disrupt their way of life. Jimmy Hahn, a commercial fisherman in the Ocean City area, told the station, “They're trying to steal our land, they're stealing our bottom, they're stealing the areas we fish in, and their last resort is to buy the fish we sell. place, once they were done we had nowhere else to work.
Moore responded: “All of these conversations have to be with local leaders, with local communities. There have to be transparency and accountability measures for what we hope to achieve and what we're going to achieve.
Vineyard Style: Yellow Flag
The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) of the Interior Department has given Avangade Yellow Flag Warning continues limited work at its Vineyard Winds project on the Massachusetts coast.
BSEE shut down the 804-megawatt project last month after a 351-foot blade on one of the turbines failed, spreading debris widely across beaches on nearby Nantucket and mainland beaches on Cape Cod. Reuters reports that the Interior Ministry agency confirmed the updated shutdown order last week (August 13) while Avangrid and blade manufacturer G Vernova continue to investigate the cause of the massive blade failure.
Reuters reported that “the updated moratorium still does not allow further installation of blades or power generation.” Vineyard Wind and GE Vernova said they are removing some of the remaining damaged blades from their wind turbines to eliminate the risk of more ocean debris.
Relevant
