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California Offshore Wind Auction | Earth Wise

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In December, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management held the first auction for offshore wind energy leases on the West Coast.  The BOEM lease sale offered five lease areas covering 373,268 acres off the central and northern California coast.  The leased areas have the potential to produce over 4.6 gigawatts of wind energy, which is enough to power 1.5 million homes.

The auction drew competitive bids from five companies totaling over $750 million.  The winning bidders were RWE Offshore Wind Holdings, California North Floating, Equinor Wind, Central California Offshore Wind, and Invenergy California Offshore. 

RWE is a German company with subsidiaries across the globe.  California North Floating is an affiliate of the Danish developer Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.  Equinor Wind is a Norwegian company already heavily involved in offshore wind projects on the East Coast.  Central California Offshore Wind is managed by a joint venture between Spanish and French energy companies.   Invenergy is a privately held global developer and operator of renewable energy headquartered in Chicago.

The bidders will receive credits for participating in programs that support work force training programs for the floating offshore wind industry and/or the development of a US domestic supply chain for that industry. 

Offshore wind off the Pacific coast has enormous potential for enhancing the country’s energy future but represents a significant challenge because the deep ocean floors necessitate the use of floating wind technology as opposed to turbines that are affixed to the sea floor.

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Biden-Harris Administration Announces Winners of California Offshore Wind Energy Auction

Photo, posted December 30, 2013, courtesy of Derek Finch via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

California Offshore Wind | Earth Wise

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California has tremendous potential offshore wind resources.  The state set a preliminary target of 15 GW of offshore wind by 2045 earlier this year and may increase that number to 25 GW.  But installing offshore wind on the West Coast is much more challenging than it is on the East Coast.  The reason is that the ocean floor drops off rapidly on the Pacific Coast and it is simply not practical to attach wind turbines to the sea bottom.  Instead, floating turbine technology will be required.  That is more complicated and more expensive.

Despite the challenges, offshore wind in California is moving forward.  The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced that the auction for rights to develop waters off central and northern California will be held on December 6.  This will be the first wind auction ever along the U.S. Pacific Coast.

The auction will include three lease areas in the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area and two proposed areas in the Humboldt Wind Energy Area.  Combined, the two areas cover over 370,000 acres and could potentially host over 4.5 GW of wind generating capacity.  The projects developed in these areas are likely to become the first floating offshore wind projects in operation in the U.S.

Apart from the challenges of building floating wind installations, there will be the issue of the electric grid in the proposed regions being able to support the added generation from the wind farms.  Substantial grid upgrades will be needed to accommodate all the power coming from the offshore facilities.  In addition, California offshore wind projects will need to jump-start new supply chains in the U.S.

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Date is set for California offshore wind lease auction

Photo, posted March 24, 2016, courtesy of Andy Dingley / TEIA via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Continued Renewables Growth | Earth Wise

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In 2021, the world added a record amount of 295 gigawatts of renewable power.  According to the International Energy Agency, it is on pace to surpass that amount in 2022.

Almost half of the renewable buildout in the world is taking place in China.  In 2021, China accounted for 46% of worldwide renewable energy additions.  The EU and United States are the next two leaders.  The rapid buildup is especially impressive given the challenges developers have faced from the coronavirus pandemic, supply chain issues, and various construction delays.

Predictions are that the global total added this year will be about 320 gigawatts of renewables.  This amount is equivalent to the total power demands of Germany, which is the world’s fourth-largest economy.  Solar photovoltaics are forecast to account for 60% of the increase in global renewable capacity this year. 

The rapid growth in China and the EU are driven by strong pro-renewable policies.  In our country, wrangling over climate legislation and investigations into potential trade violations by Asian suppliers have held back our progress.  But over the next several years, offshore wind will begin to have a real impact on U.S. renewable installations.

According to the report by the International Energy Agency, renewable energy growth is likely to plateau in 2023 unless stronger climate policies are enacted. 

There are now more than 3 terawatts – that’s 3,000 gigawatts – of renewable generation capacity globally.  This compares with a little over 4,000 terawatts of fossil fuel generation.  Global renewable energy generation is currently projected to surpass that of fossil fuels by 2035.

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Following Record Growth in 2021, Renewables on Track for New High in 2022

Photo, posted October 17, 2016, courtesy of B Sarangi via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

New York Bight Offshore Wind | Earth Wise

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Late in February, the U.S. completed the most successful offshore wind lease auction in history.  The auction for rights to develop offshore wind in the New York Bight brought in a record $4.37 billion from the companies bidding for them.

The New York Bight is an area of ocean off the coasts of New York and New Jersey that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has divided into six lease areas for offshore wind development.  It covers a total of 480,000 acres.  The more than $4 billion secured in the auction is more than three times the revenue received from all U.S. offshore oil and gas lease auctions over the past five years.

Five out of the six winning bids have European connections in the form of various partnerships.  Europe has a far more advanced offshore wind market than the U.S. with a total of 25 GW of installations as of 2020.  Winning bidders included participation by RWE from Germany, British-owned National Grid, and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, among others.  Chicago-based Invenergy was the only American company without a European partner to have a winning bid.

The expected installed capacity for the 6 leased areas in the New York Bight is expected to be between 5.6 and 7 GW, enough to power 2 million homes.  The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said capacity could be even higher.

The successful action has set the tone and expectations for auctions to come.  BOEM has six more offshore wind auctions planned over the next three years.  Forthcoming auctions are for areas of the Carolinas, Northern and Central California, the Gulf of Mexico, the Central Atlantic, Oregon, and the Gulf of Maine.

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New York Bight: 5 takeaways from the record-breaking offshore wind auction

Photo, posted August 13, 2013, courtesy of Larry via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Offshore Wind Ramping Up In The Northeast | Earth Wise

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There is a growing number of large offshore wind projects in the pipeline in the Northeast.  The large Vineyard Wind project off the coast of Massachusetts began construction in November.  Contracts for the Empire Wind and Beacon Wind projects in New York were finalized in January.

The first offshore wind project to begin construction in New York broke ground in February.  South Fork Wind, a 132-megawatt project located about 19 miles southeast of Block Island, Rhode Island, is expected to come online in 2023.

New York’s goal is to develop 9 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2035 and the state is investing $500 million to set up manufacturing and supply chain infrastructure for offshore wind.  Major facilities will be built in the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal and in the Port of Albany.

Meanwhile, Massachusetts recently announced that the site of the last coal-fired power plant in that state will become the home of its first offshore wind manufacturing facility.

The Brayton Point power plant in Somerset was shut down in 2017 after more than 50 years of operation.  The site, located on Mount Hope Bay near Providence, Rhode Island, will host a $200 million facility for the manufacturing of undersea transmission lines used to connect the grid to offshore wind turbines.  The first of these will be the Vineyard Wind’s Commonwealth Wind project, which will generate 1.2 gigawatts of electricity.

Both New York and Massachusetts are investing in the opportunities afforded by the soon-to-be booming offshore wind industry.  With numerous windfarms planned up and down the Atlantic coast, manufacturing, maintenance, and support infrastructure will be big business for the two states.

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Work starts on New York’s first offshore wind project

Former Coal Power Site in Massachusetts to Become Offshore Wind Plant

Photo, posted May 13, 2011, courtesy of SSE via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Efficiency Of Offshore Wind | Earth Wise

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After many years of debates, delays, and controversies, offshore wind is about to expand in a big way in the United States.  The White House has announced the goal to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind – enough to power 90 million homes – along the East Coast seaboard by 2030.

In New York State, there are now five offshore wind projects in active development.  The state goal is to have nearly a gigawatt of offshore wind by 2035, enough to power over 4 million homes.

These projects involve the use of thousands of physically large, high-capacity wind turbines deployed over large areas at an unprecedented scale.  Such mammoth installations bring with them unique problems.

Low-turbulence conditions over water lead to the fact that individual wind farms will experience each other’s wake (the disturbance of their airflow) even when turbine arrays are 15 to 50 miles apart.  As a result, turbines may fatigue earlier, and groups of turbines may experience up to 30% lower power production due to wake effects.

Industry trends are causing an increased probability of large wake-induced energy losses within individual wind farms and an increasing probability of wake interactions.

These issues have been studied in new research published by researchers at Cornell University.  The research presents simulations that may be helpful to optimize turbine spacing in the ongoing deployments and assist plans for future ones.  Improved understanding of wind turbine and wind-farm wake is essential in ensuring that the financial investments in offshore wind result in electricity-generation goals met at the lowest possible cost.

According to Department of Energy studies, offshore wind resources around the United States could potentially generate more electricity than the entire country currently uses.

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Scientists bring efficiency to expanding offshore wind energy

Photo, posted August 9, 2016, courtesy of Lars Plougmann via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Vineyard Wind Prepares For Construction | Earth Wise

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Vineyard Wind 1 will be the first utility-scale offshore wind energy project in the United States.  It will be located 15 miles off the coast of Massachusetts and will consist of an array of 62 wind turbines, spaced one nautical mile apart.  It will generate 800 megawatts of electricity, enough to power over 400,000 homes.

The project has recently closed on $2.3 billion of senior debt financing, which sets the stage for construction to begin.  The joint venture between Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure partners is one of the single largest investments in a renewable energy project in the U.S.  The financial close is basically the final milestone for launching the project following years of clearing regulatory and other hurdles.

With the financial closing, Vineyard Wind will be instructing its contractors to begin work.  Onshore work will start this fall and offshore work will begin in 2022.

The project will use Haliade-X wind turbine generators made by GE.  These are some of the largest and most powerful wind turbines currently available, each one capable of generating 13 megawatts of electricity.  The electricity generated by the turbines will be collected by an offshore substation and then transmitted to shore.  Two submarine cables will bring the electricity from the substation to a landing point in Barnstable.  The cables will be buried six feet below the seafloor.  Underground cables will then route the power to an onshore substation in the village of Hyannis where it will be connected to the New England Grid.

Vineyard Wind is the first of many offshore wind farms in the works for the Northeastern United States.

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U.S.’s first commercial-scale offshore wind project prepares for construction

Photo, posted March 24, 2016, courtesy of Andy Dingley via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Offshore Wind In New Jersey | Earth Wise

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The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities recently selected to fund Ocean Wind 2, a 1,148-MW offshore wind energy project proposed by the Danish company Ørsted.  The agency also awarded Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind a contract to develop 1,410-MW of offshore wind capacity.

Ocean Wind 2 will develop the second section of the Ocean Wind federal lease area and will provide enough power for half a million New Jersey homes.  The first Ocean Wind project, also under development by Ørsted, was awarded in 2019. It’s expected to come online in 2024, and is located 15 miles off the coast of southern New Jersey. (The second project will be located adjacent to the first).

As part of the project, Ørsted is contributing to an expansion for the EEW facility in Paulsboro, where monopiles, which are foundation supports for offshore wind turbines, are manufactured.  That facility will be home to 500 full-time jobs and represents a $250 million investment into southern New Jersey.  The project is also bringing a commitment from GE Renewables to locate one of the country’s first offshore wind nacelle assembly facilities in New Jersey.  (This facility will assemble the nacelles for Ocean Wind 2 as well as other American offshore wind projects).

Overall, Ocean Wind 2 is expected to generate nearly $5 billion in net economic benefits for the state of New Jersey. 

The Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind project will be located 10-20 miles off the coast of New Jersey between Atlantic City and Barnegat Light and will bring about $850 million in local economic benefits to the state, including a variety of investments in local communities.

Overall, New Jersey has the goal of supplying more than 3.2 million homes with offshore wind power by 2035.

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New Jersey moves forward with two offshore wind projects representing almost 3 GW of capacity

Photo, posted March 24, 2016, courtesy of TEIA via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Floating Renewable Energy | Earth Wise

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A team of researchers at Texas A&M University believes that the next generation of offshore energy could come in the form of a synergistic combination of multiple renewable energy generators installed on a floating offshore platform.

Their concept for the ocean renewable energy station comprises wind, wave, ocean current, and solar energy elements that could generate electricity for anything from a coastal or island community to a research lab or military unit.  The station would be tethered to the sea bottom and could be used in locations where the water depth increases quickly, such as along the U.S. Pacific Coast or Hawaii.

Offshore wind is already commercially competitive, while wave-energy converters so far have been less cost-effective and only useful for specialized, smaller-scale applications.  The proposed ocean renewable energy station would make use of multiple different methods of electricity generation and incorporate innovative smart materials in the wave energy converters that respond to changes in wave height and frequency and allow for more consistent power production.

Denmark is already building a huge multi-source, multi-purpose ocean energy island.  This world’s first energy island will be 30 acres in area and serve as a hub for 200 giant offshore wind turbines generating 3 GW of electric power.  It is the largest construction project in Danish history, and will cost an estimate $34 billion.  As well as supplying other European countries with electricity, the goal is to use the new offshore island to produce green hydrogen from seawater, which can also be exported.  Large battery banks on the island will store surplus electricity for use in times of high demand.

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Research Underway On Floating Renewable Energy Station

Photo, posted September 27, 2014, courtesy of Eric Gross via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Wind Farms Slowing Each Other Down | Earth Wise

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Offshore wind is booming in Europe.  The expansion of wind energy in the German Bight and Baltic Sea has been especially dramatic.  At this point, there are about 8 gigawatts of wind turbines in German waters, the equivalent of about 8 nuclear power plants.  But space in this region is limited so that wind farms are sometimes built very close to one another.

A team of researchers from the Helmholtz Center Hereon, a major German research institute, has found that wind speeds downstream from large windfarms are significantly slowed down.  In a study published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports, they found that this braking effect can result in astonishingly large-scale lowering of wind speeds.

On average, the regions of lowered wind can extend 20-30 miles and, under certain weather conditions, can even extend up to 60 miles.  As a result, the output of a neighboring wind farm located within this distance can be reduced by 20 to 25 percent.

These wake effects are weather dependent.  During stable weather conditions, which are typically the case in the spring in German waters, the effects can be especially large.  During stormy times, such as in November and December, the atmosphere is so mixed that the wind farm wake effects are relatively small.

Based on their modeling, it is clear that if wind farms are planned to be located close together, these wake effects need to be taken into account.  The researchers next want to investigate the effects that reduced wind speeds have on life in the sea.  Ocean winds affect salt and oxygen content, temperatures, and nutrients in the water.  It is important to find out how reduced winds might affect marine ecosystems.

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Are wind farms slowing each other down?

Photo, posted November 23, 2011, courtesy of David J Laporte via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

California Offshore Wind | Earth Wise

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Offshore wind has been pretty much a non-starter in the U.S. until recently.  Now there is considerable activity in the Northeast Atlantic with major projects getting started off the coasts of Massachusetts, New York, and other eastern states.  The prospects for wind farms in the Pacific, on the other hand, have been pretty dismal.  There are significant logistical problems posed by a deep ocean floor and also opposition from the Navy that does not want obstacles for its ships.

A combination of progress in floating wind turbine technology and the arrival of an administration highly supportive of renewable energy technology has changed the situation.  In late May, the Navy abandoned its opposition to Pacific offshore wind and joined the Interior Department in giving support to allowing two areas off the California coast to be developed for wind turbines.

The plan allows commercial offshore wind farms in a 400-square-mile area in Morro Bay in central California, and in another area off the Humboldt Coast in Northern California.

The two California sites could support enough wind turbines to generate electricity to power 1.6 million homes.  That would make the California coast one of the largest generators of wind power in the world.  The forthcoming Vineyard Wind farm in Massachusetts is expected to have 84 giant turbines.  The two California sites could hold more than 300 turbines.

The offshore wind industry is booming around the world, especially near the coasts of Norway and the UK, where the water is shallow, and turbines can be anchored to the ocean floor.  By contrast, the Pacific Ocean floor drops steeply from the coastline, making it too deep to anchor wind towers.  The newly emerging technology of floating turbines is the key to establishing offshore wind in the Pacific.

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Biden Opens California’s Coast to Wind Farms

Photo, posted August 7, 2013, courtesy of Ray Bouknight via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Green Light For Commercial-Scale Offshore Wind | Earth Wise

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The Biden administration has given final approval to a project it hopes will usher in a new era of wind energy in the United States.  The greenlight was announced by the Department of the Interior on May 11.

The Vineyard Wind project intends to install up to 84 huge wind turbines about 12 nautical miles off the cost of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.  In total, Vineyard Wind could generate 800 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about 400,000 homes.  The construction project will create about 3,600 jobs.  The $2.8 billion project is a joint venture of the energy firms Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.

The idea of a wind farm off the Massachusetts coast was conceived 20 years ago but ran into repeated setbacks, delays, and well-funded opposition from waterfront property owners concerned about what will ultimately be the barely discernable sight of tiny blips on the distant horizon.  The Trump administration moved to cancel the permitting process for Vineyard Wind, but the Biden administration revived the project in March as part of its greater efforts to tackle climate change.

Electricity generated by Vineyard Wind will travel via cables buried six feet below the ocean floor to Cape Cod, where they will connect to a substation and feed into the New England grid.  The project is expected to begin delivering wind-powered electricity in 2023.

The Biden administration says that it intends to fast-track permits for other wind projects off the Atlantic Coast and that it will offer $3 billion in federal loan guarantees for offshore wind projects and invest in upgrades to ports across the United States to support wind turbine construction.

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Biden Administration Approves Nation’s First Major Offshore Wind Farm

Photo, posted February 8, 2007, courtesy of mmatsuura via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Is U.S. Offshore Wind Finally Happening? | Earth Wise

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Offshore wind capacity has been growing rapidly in recent years, especially in Europe and China.  Globally, there is now more than 30 GW of offshore wind and industry experts predict that there will be well over 200 GW of installed capacity by 2030.

Meanwhile, the U.S. has only two small pilot projects, one with five turbines off Rhode Island and another with two turbines off Virginia.  But after many years of battles with determined opponents, false starts, regulatory struggles, and other hurdles, the U.S. offshore wind industry appears to be poised to take off.

A combination of significant commitments by power companies to purchase offshore wind power, strong support by the Biden administration, and billions of dollars in investments is creating the new-found momentum.

New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Maryland have collectively committed to buying 30 GW of offshore electricity by 2035.  (That’s enough to power roughly 20 million homes).

Among the first major offshore installations to be completed in the next few years in the U.S. will be Vineyard Wind, 15 miles off of Martha’s Vineyard, another wind farm 60 miles east of New York’s Montauk Point, a third fifteen miles off Atlantic City, New Jersey, and a fourth off the Virginia Coast.

Offshore wind projects will create nearly 40,000 jobs just in the New York-New Jersey area over the next ten years.  There is still some opposition from elements of the commercial fishing industry and from some coastal residents.  However, with state and federal governments committed to reducing carbon emissions and rapidly reducing regulatory barriers, and with the price of offshore wind continuing to get lower and lower, most observers agree that the U.S. offshore wind industry is finally on the verge of really getting going.

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On U.S. East Coast, Has Offshore Wind’s Moment Finally Arrived?

Photo, posted August 9, 2016, courtesy of Lars Plougmann via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

New Jersey And Offshore Wind | Earth Wise

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New Jersey intends to become a major hub for offshore wind in the United States.  The state recently announced a plan to build a 30-acre port along the Delaware River for assembling and deploying wind turbines, as well as an additional 25 acres for manufacturing facilities.   The new port is expected to cost as much as $400 million and create 1,500 jobs in southern New Jersey.

The port will be located on an artificial island that was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers early in the 20th century.  The island is already home to three nuclear reactors.  No bridges exist between the island and the Atlantic Ocean, so turbines that are built at the staging facility could be hoisted upright and towed out to sea without obstruction.  Some components are as tall as 500 feet and when fully constructed on the ocean, the turbines selected for New Jersey’s first offshore wind project will be more than 850 feet tall.

A second phase of the program would add over 150 acres to accommodate extensive manufacturing facilities for turbine components like blades and nacelles.

Construction on the port is expected to start next year.  New Jersey has pledged to produce 7,500 megawatts of offshore wind energy by 2035 and to generate 100% of its electricity from renewables by 2050.  Apart from deploying offshore wind, New Jersey wants to have a significant piece of the supply chain for what is likely to be a growing industry along the northeast coast.  The state views offshore wind as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to not only protect the environment but also greatly expand its economy in a way that has immediate impacts and long-term growth.

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New Jersey Announces $400 Million Offshore Wind Port

Photo, posted September 18, 2010, courtesy of Vattenfall Nederland via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Giant U.S. Offshore Wind Project Begins | Earth Wise

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In recent years, the Bureau of Offshore Energy Management – the agency that oversees energy projects in federal waters – has been granting leases for offshore wind projects in the waters of multiple states on the East Coast.  Up until now, none of these leases have actually resulted in the deployment of any wind turbines because the process of gaining approvals, project plans, surveys, funding and other requirements is a long and tortuous one.

In late May, the first offshore wind turbine in U.S. federal waters was installed 27 miles offshore from Virginia.  The 6-MW Siemens turbine is one of two turbines making up the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind pilot project.  The pilot project is expected to be operational later this year.  This project is the first to receive go-ahead approval by the BOEM.

The CVOW project is a development by Dominion Energy, a Virginia-based utility that operates in 20 states.  Dominion’s project will eventually be a 2.64 GW mega-farm that could be the largest offshore wind farm in the world.  Construction of the main project is expected to begin in 2024.  It will be sited in the seabed of a 112,800-acre lease area.  The site is currently being surveyed to determine potential impacts to ocean and sea life.

Dominion Energy has made multiple commitments to emissions reduction and the massive offshore wind farm is an important part of its efforts to meet those commitments.  The CVOW pilot project is only the second offshore wind installation in the U.S.  The first, the Block Island Wind Farm in Rhode Island, is in state waters and did not require BOEM approval.

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A ‘monumental day’ for US offshore wind as first turbine is installed in federal waters

Photo, posted May 13, 2011, courtesy of the Department of Energy and Climate Change via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Floating Turbines For Offshore Wind | Earth Wise

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Offshore wind is big in Europe.  There are more than 5,000 offshore wind turbines across 12 European countries with a total capacity of more than 22 gigawatts.  Almost every one of those turbines sits on a long tower sunk into the seabed and bolted into place in places where the water is 60 to 160 feet deep.

But off the coast of northern Scotland, there is the Hywind Wind Park which has five 574-foot-tall turbines located 15 miles offshore where the water is 300 feet deep.  The giant masts and turbines sit on buoyant concrete-and-steel keels that allow them to stand upright and float on the water like a giant buoy.  The giant cylindrical bases are held in place with mooring cables attached to anchors that sit on the seafloor.

A key advantage of floating turbines is that they can access outlying ocean waters up to half a mile deep, which is where the world’s strongest and most consistent winds blow.  Another advantage is that such turbines can be installed over the horizon, out of sight of coastal residents who might not like to have wind turbines visible in their scenic ocean views.

Floating wind power has enormous potential for contributing to the expansion of renewable energy.  Offshore wind is still quite a bit more expensive than land-based turbines, and the cost of electricity from distant floating turbines is more than that from near-shore wind turbines.   But all of these costs are likely to come down with improving technology and increased production volume.

There are real challenges to the expanded used of floating wind farms, but the promise of harnessing so much of the open seas for electricity generation is an attractive proposition.

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Will Floating Turbines Usher in a New Wave of Offshore Wind?

Photo, posted July 17, 2017, courtesy of Crown Estate Scotland via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Plan For New England Offshore Wind | Earth Wise

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Last December, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management auctioned off lease rights for developing offshore wind in the New England Wind Energy Area.  The auction brought in hundreds of millions of dollars.

Recently, the five New England offshore wind leaseholders – Equinor, Mayflower Wind, Ørsted, Eversource, and Vineyard Wind – jointly submitted a uniform turbine layout proposal to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The five developers joined forces to respond to feedback from key stakeholders in the region including the fisheries industry, the Coast Guard, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and coastal communities.

The proposed layout specifies that wind turbines will be spaced one nautical mile apart, arranged in east-west rows an north-south columns, and the rows and columns will be continuous across all New England lease area.  Independent expert analysis confirmed that this uniform layout would provide for robust navigational safety and search-and-rescue capability by providing hundreds of transit corridors to accommodate the region’s vessel traffic.

Vessels up to 400 feet in length can safely operate within the proposed turbine layout and will allow the region’s many fishing vessels to follow a wide range of transit paths as they come from many different ports and head to a variety of fishing grounds.

The New England Wind Energy Area is expected to be able to provide as much as 8 GW of electricity generation for the states in the region.  Getting approval for this planned layout is one of multiple steps required before the offshore wind complex becomes a reality.  Overall, states along the U.S. East Coast are seeking to procure more than 19,300 MW of offshore wind capacity through 2035

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New England offshore wind developers submit uniform layout proposal to the U.S. Coast Guard

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Potential For Offshore Wind

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According to a new report from the International Energy Agency, offshore wind technology has vast potential for meeting our energy needs.  In total, offshore wind has the potential to generate more than 420,000 terawatt-hours of electricity each year, which is more than 18 times the global electricity demand that exists today.

Based on current policy targets and plummeting technology costs, offshore wind could increase 15-fold by 2040, becoming a $1 trillion industry and eliminating 5 to 7 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

Offshore wind today generates just 0.3% of the world’s electricity, but its’ use is growing rapidly.  The industry has grown nearly 30% a year since 2010, and 150 new offshore projects are currently in development around the world.  The leading countries are in Europe – especially in the UK, Germany, and Denmark – but China is greatly expanding its offshore capacity and the US, India, Korea, Japan, and Canada are also expected to make large investments in offshore wind going forward.

Offshore wind is in a category of its own because it is considered a variable baseload power generation technology.  This is because the hourly variability of offshore wind is much lower than solar power or onshore wind.  Offshore wind typically fluctuates far less from hour-to-hour than the other variable energy sources.

Technology improvements and industry growth are driving steep cost reductions for offshore wind.  The cost of offshore wind is expected to be cut in half in the next five years, dropping to $60 per megawatt-hour, which is on par with solar and onshore wind and cheaper than new natural gas-fired capacity in Europe.

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Offshore Wind Has the Potential to Fulfill Global Electricity Demand 18 Times Over

Photo, posted August 9, 2016, courtesy of Lars Plougmann via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

New York Offshore Wind

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New York has passed ambitious legislation to reduce the carbon emissions that cause climate change, but the state needs to start taking action to make those reductions possible.  One such action it has taken is an agreement that will enable the construction of two large offshore wind projects.

The projects are to be built off the coast of Long Island.  One will be 14 miles south of Jones Beach and the other 30 miles north of Montauk.  The wind farms will be built by a division of Equinor, a major Danish energy company, and a joint venture between Orsted, another Danish company, and Eversource Energy, an American firm.

The two New York wind farms are expected to be operational within the next five years and have the capacity to produce 1,700 megawatts of electricity.  That is about 20% of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s overall goal for offshore wind.

Wind farms are a major energy source in the United States, now providing about 7% of the country’s electricity.  That compares with only 2% in 2010. But nearly all American wind turbines are on land.  There is only one small offshore wind farm in the US off the coast of Rhode Island.  Things are very different in Europe.  For example, Britain expects to get 10% of its electricity from offshore wind next year, which is up from less than 1% in 2010.

Developers of offshore wind farms have struggled to gain a foothold in the US.  Some projects have foundered because of cost issues, but others have faced opposition from politicians and coastal-property owners.  But assuming the New York wind projects clear permitting and environmental hurdles, offshore wind may finally be on the move in the US.

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New York Awards Offshore Wind Contracts in Bid to Reduce Emissions

Photo, posted May 22, 2007, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Lots Of Renewable Energy Jobs

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According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, there were 11 million people employed in renewable energy worldwide in 2018.  This compares with 10.3 million in 2017.  So roughly three-quarters of a million new jobs were added last year.   As more and more countries manufacture, trade and install renewable energy technologies, renewables jobs continue to reach new high levels.

The geographic footprint of renewable energy jobs is changing.  Until now, renewable energy industries have remained relatively concentrated in a handful of major markets such as China, the US, and the European Union.  But more recently, East and Southeast Asian countries have emerged alongside China as key exporters of solar technology.  Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam were responsible for a greater share of growth in renewables last year.  Overall, Asia has a 60% share of renewable energy jobs worldwide.

Beyond climate goals, low-carbon economic growth has become a driver for renewables technology.  Renewables deliver on all the major elements of sustainable development:  environmental, economic and social.

The solar photovoltaic industry continues to be the most dynamic renewable enterprise.  It accounts for a third of the renewable energy workforce with more than three million jobs.  

Biofuel jobs were up by 6% to over 2 million.  Wind power supports 1.2 million jobs, with onshore projects predominant.  But the offshore wind segment is gaining traction.  Hydropower is still the largest installed capacity of all renewables but is now only expanding slowly.  The hydropower sector employs 2.1 million people directly, three-quarters in operations and maintenance.

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Renewable energy market employs 11 million in 2018 – IRENA

Photo, posted January 11, 2012, courtesy of the Oregon Department of Transportation via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

WAMC Northeast Public Radio

WAMC/Northeast Public Radio is a regional public radio network serving parts of seven northeastern states (more...)