The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has executed the first U.S. floating offshore wind energy research lease, covering nearly 15,000 acres off the coast of Maine.
The groundbreaking lease is situated 28 nautical miles off the coast of Maine on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf and is poised to host up to 12 floating offshore wind turbines, with a potential to generate 144 megawatts of renewable energy.
The research initiative, a collaboration between the State of Maine, the fishing community, wildlife experts, and the offshore wind industry, aims to study the potential of floating offshore wind energy, its environmental impacts, and its compatibility with existing ocean uses.
“Floating wind opens up opportunities to produce renewable energy in deeper water farther offshore,” said BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein.
Maine Governor Janet Mills touted offshore winds as offering a historic opportunity for Maine to create good-paying jobs, reduce reliance on fossil fuels, and fight climate change by cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
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Let’s hope that assistance comes through and fact-based support for wind energy regains momentum. Our country has long supported the infrastructure needed to power our economy – from transportation to drinking water – through policy, subsidies, and tax incentives. The nuclear power industry in NJ receives $300 million annually in subsidies. Globally, the International Monetary Fund reported that fossil fuel industries received $7 trillion in subsidies in 2022.
Climate studies widely reported by a team of United Nations scientists repeatedly warn that we must stop burning fossil fuels to stop heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions, with the Secretary-General declaring this a “code red” climate emergency.
We need to employ the best 21st-century technology to meet our energy needs, and in NJ, given its topography and steady coastal breezes, wind energy, which does not emit greenhouse gases, is essential, as is energy efficiency and solar. The state ranks eighth in the nation for solar installations, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association, a national trade organization.
Rising global temperatures are melting arctic glaciers and threatening creatures that depend on ice like polar bears. The water from that melting ice is raising sea levels around the world risking coastline communities. In NJ, the state is experiencing more extreme storms, heat-related illnesses, flooding, and displacement from homes.
The last thing the whales, all marine life, and we humans need is nasty bickering that detracts from careful scientific decisions necessary for our collective survival. We can’t let climate change fatigue make us throw up our hands in defeat and party like it’s 2029; reportedly the year before scientists say greenhouse gas emissions must be slashed by about 50 percent to get to zero emissions by 2050 or else climate change will be irreversible.
Partisan politics should play no part in any climate-abating decisions. Calm, respectful, and fact-based discourse will be our greatest assets during “code red” and beyond. Our survival and future generations depend on the actions we take now.
Janet Tauro, Clean Water Action, NJ Board Chair, and William Nierstedt, PP, AICP, CWA Board member
ATLANTIC CITY — A joint study by two federal government scientific agencies and the commercial fishing industry documents numerous impacts that offshore wind power projects have on fish and marine mammals, including noise, vibration, electromagnetic fields, and heat transfer that could alter the marine environment.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance issued their report Wednesday after a 2½-year-long study of the impacts existing offshore wind projects have on fish and marine mammals.
The goal was to solidify existing knowledge of the impacts and call for further research in many areas.
NOAA and BOEM are among the agencies that say there is no link between offshore wind preparation and whale deaths. Their co-authorship of a report detailing potential negative impacts on fish and marine mammals may intensify an already highly politicized controversy.
Asked Friday about the likelihood of this happening, NOAA spokesperson Lauren Gaches reiterated the agency’s position that offshore wind is not causing the whale deaths, which remain under investigation.
“We will also continue to explore how sound, vessel, and other human activities in the marine environment impact whales and other marine mammals,” she said.
The fishing industry is concerned that fish near construction sites may be killed or chased away for prolonged periods even after the turbines are built, according to the report.
“Physical changes associated with (offshore wind) developments will affect the marine environment — and, subsequently, the species that live there — to varying degrees,” the report read. ”These include construction and operation noise and vibration, electromagnetic fields, and thermal radiation from cables, as well as secondary gear entanglement.
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New Jersey has become a national leader of America’s budding offshore wind industry by committing to buying offshore wind power, building the first U.S. port for assembling giant turbines, and recognizing that its workforce needs to have the skills to serve the rapidly growing industry, government and business leaders said Thursday.
At a trade show panel titled “NJ Case Study: Build It and They Will Come,” officials examined whether New Jersey is laying the foundation for a sustainable offshore wind industry that others may emulate.
“What’s happened in New Jersey is, ‘This is what we want, we want some key manufacturing, we want port space, and we want to see it grow,’” said Doug Copeland, development manager for Atlantic Shores, which plans a 1,510-megawatt wind farm off Atlantic City and Long Beach Island.
Copeland praised New Jersey’s approach, which has the state committing to buying 7,500 MW of offshore wind power by 2035, and a combined public and private financial program to stimulate activity.
The federal government is speeding up its process of identifying and leasing ocean areas for generating offshore wind power because the industry is showing strong demand, and because of the urgency of the climate crisis, the government’s top offshore wind official said Wednesday.
Amanda Lefton, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, said officials will auction new wind-energy areas off the central Atlantic coast much more quickly than they did with areas in the New York Bight between New Jersey and New York.
Amanda Lefton
On Wednesday, the bureau called for public comments on six areas from Delaware southward that have the potential for offshore wind leases. After gathering comments from stakeholders including the commercial fishing industry, environmental groups, and the Department of Defense, the agency will identify areas for lease that it says will have the least impact on other ocean users.
The Atlantic lease areas eventually selected will be a fraction of the 3.9 million acres for offshore wind power that the agency announced Wednesday, but they are expected to contribute to the Biden administration’s ambitious goal of generating 30 gigawatts of offshore power by 2030, Lefton said. The new areas also include 1.1 million acres off the coast of Oregon.
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Orsted proposes to build a wind farm 15 miles off the South Jersey coast. This photo shows the turbines for an Orsted project overseas. (Photo credit Orsted)
The public will hear from Orsted and PSEG representatives in a live-streamed meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, March 7, when officials will explain the project and their intention to utilize an area of Ocean City for an underground transmission line.
Each of the 99 wind turbines proposed in the project, called Ocean Wind, are roughly 900 feet tall and would stretch down the coast from Atlantic City to Stone Harbor about 15 miles offshore, passing by Ocean City in the process.
The company filed a petition on Feb. 2 with the state Board of Public Utilities to utilize an area of Ocean City to install a transmission line.
Cape May County and Ocean City officials told OCNJDaily.com on Feb. 3 that they are reviewing the petition.
The project is in the planning and permitting phase and is slated for completion by 2024.
On Monday, Cape May County Administrator Kevin Lare said, “The county will have representation on the hearing March 7.”
Lare noted that the county is “continuing internal, deliberative discussions among the Board of County Commissioners.”
Over the last couple of years since Orsted approached Ocean City about the transmission line, and hosted forums about the project in the resort, there have been opponents to the plan as well as proponents.
An audience listens to Orsted representatives during the last forum in Ocean City in November.
There have been concerns over what the project could mean for marine life, the fishing industry, and if there will be bird strikes due to the turbines. Additionally, there are concerns that the wind farms will negatively affect real estate values, seasonal rentals, the tourist industry, drive up taxes, and increase the region’s energy bills.
A crane hangs over the first jacket support structure installed to support a turbine for a wind farm in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean off Block Island, Rhode Island July 27, 2015. Deepwater Wind, a planned five-turbine, 30-megawatt wind farm off the coast of Block Island, would be North America’s first offshore wind farm, a milestone the company says could pave the way for an industry long established in Europe but still struggling with opposition in the United States. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File PhotoRead
July 28 (Reuters) – The Biden administration is considering ways to ensure the U.S. commercial fishing industry is paid for any losses it incurs from the planned expansion of offshore wind power in the Atlantic Ocean, according to state and federal officials involved in the matter.
Discussions between state and federal officials, which participants described as being at a very early stage, are aimed at addressing the top threat to President Joe Biden’s efforts to grow offshore wind – a centerpiece of his clean energy agenda to fight climate change.
Commercial fishing fleets have vehemently opposed offshore wind projects, labeling them a significant threat to catches of crucial stocks including scallops, clams, squid, and lobsters, by interfering with navigation and altering ecosystems.
That opposition has contributed to delays in permitting the nation’s first commercial-scale projects and is among the reasons the U.S. has lagged Europe in offshore wind development. Minimizing those conflicts could speed the lengthy federal permitting process as Biden seeks to add 30 gigawatts of offshore wind to the nation’s waters in just nine years.
U.S. government researchers estimate that offshore wind projects could displace some commercial fisheries by as much as a quarter.
The administration’s new effort was prompted in part by a letter to Biden from nine coastal states last month urging the federal government to lead the way in crafting “mitigation frameworks for demonstrated negative impacts” on fisheries from offshore wind projects, according to the officials.
“Building on the request made in the multi-state Governor’s letter, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has had preliminary discussions with counterparts in other signatory states on engaging the federal government to advance an equitable mitigation framework for potential impacts to the commercial fishing industry from offshore wind projects,” the state said in an emailed statement. “While in early stages of development, NJDEP anticipates more to be shared in the coming months.”
The United States has yet to install a major offshore wind farm, yet developers pursuing those projects have spent years hashing out potential fishing industry compensation schemes with states and the fleets. Until now, the federal government has not pursued a federal approach.
Brian Hooker, a marine biologist with the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), said at a June meeting of a regional fishery management body that “compensatory mitigation is something that we’re taking a very serious look at” and cited the June letter from states as a reason, according to a recording of the meeting reviewed by Reuters.
The June 4 letter to Biden was signed by the governors of New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maine, Connecticut, Virginia, Maryland and New Hampshire – all states with sizable fishing fleets.
Gov. Janet Mills has signed into law a bill prohibiting offshore wind farms in state waters, in a compromise aimed at siting such projects farther from Maine’s heavily used inshore waters.
Mills is a vocal supporter of wind energy who has made addressing climate change a top priority of her administration. But segments of Maine’s fishing industry – particularly lobstermen – have been battling to ban any wind development off the coast of Maine over concerns about the potential loss of access to valuable fishing grounds and other conflicts.
The bill proposed by Mills and signed into law this week would prohibit state and local governments from licensing or permitting the siting, construction or operation of wind turbines in the state territorial waters that extend three miles from shore. A demonstration project under development off Monhegan Island and future “pilot-scale, limited duration” research projects would be exempt from the prohibition.
The bill, L.D. 1619, also would create an Offshore Wind Research Consortium with an advisory board that includes representatives of the lobster industry, other commercial fishermen, and the recreational charter fishing industry as well as energy experts. The board will advise the state on local and regional impacts from offshore wind power projects as gleaned from a state-backed “research array” of up to 12 turbines to be located in federal waters.
“Maine is uniquely prepared to grow a strong offshore wind industry, create good-paying trades and technology jobs around the state, and reduce our crippling dependence on harmful fossil fuels,” Mills said in a statement. “This legislation cements in law our belief that these efforts should occur in federal waters farther off our coast through a research array that can help us establish the best way for Maine to embrace the vast economic and environmental benefits of offshore wind.”
Offshore wind is widely regarded as a major untapped source of renewable energy in the United States, and the Gulf of Maine has among the best wind resources in the nation. One recent study cited by the Mills administration predicts the industry could be valued at $70 billion by 2030, helped along by the Biden administration’s ambitious goal of generating 30 gigawatts of energy from offshore wind by that date.
Commercial fishermen, however, have consistently opposed such wind farms, and segments of Maine’s lobster industry have been waging a political campaign against what they refer to as “offshore power plants.”
Mills proposed her moratorium in January as a way to address concerns raised by fishermen. But it was obvious during a May public hearing on a bill seeking a total ban on offshore wind that many in the industry felt Mills’ proposal did not go far enough. And in March, more than 80 lobster boats disrupted underwater surveys for a cable connecting the Monhegan demonstration project to the mainland.
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With New Jersey’s target of delivering 7,500 megawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2035 and its aim of becoming the east coast’s wind manufacturing hub, the state is ramping up development activities in this clean energy sector.
Among next steps are the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities plan to hold a solicitation for a second offshore wind project and development of the New Jersey Wind Port in Salem County as the nation’s first purpose-built offshore wind marshaling port.
While these steps are integral to New Jersey’s goal of blunting the most severe impacts of climate change, questions exist regarding offshore wind implementation and impact. Among them:
To what extent can offshore wind deployments reduce dependency on carbon-intensive energy sources in the battle against climate change?
How will the offshore wind sector drive economic development and jobs creation in the state?
What are the visual effects of wind turbines on New Jersey shoreline and will they affect tourism?
How to address concerns about the impact of offshore wind installations on the commercial fishing industry?
Please join us for this NJ Spotlight News virtual roundtable as we discuss with experts how the offshore wind industry can advance in New Jersey while also protecting other business and public interests.
Opening remarks:
David Hardy, Chief Executive Officer, Ørsted Offshore North America
Panelists:
Governor James J. Florio, Founding Partner, Florio Perrucci Steinhardt Cappelli Tipton & Taylor, Senior Fellow, Public Policy and Administration, Edward J. Bloustein Graduate School of Public Policy, Rutgers University
Dr. Josh Kohut, Professor, Center for Ocean Observing Leadership, Rutgers University
Kris Ohleth, Executive Director, Special Initiative on Offshore Wind
Doug O’Malley, State Director, Environment New Jersey
Moderator: Tom Johnson, Energy & Environment Writer, NJ Spotlight News
The Seacoast region is in the early stages of evaluating the challenges and opportunities of offshore wind renewable energy generation with wind turbines off the local coastline.
Because the more than 800-foot-tall wind turbines would be anywhere from 10 to 20 miles away from the shore, experts said, they should not be very visible from the shore and they will be out far enough to avoid interfering with commercial fishing operations.
But building a multi-billion-dollar offshore wind project like this requires a lot of upfront work to build the labor workforce and industry infrastructure for the project and to maintain it for the long term, experts say. The planning is still in its infancy, so construction of an undertaking like this is still at least five to seven years out.
Where is the New England wind turbine project is now?
Discussion Tuesday centered around how New England can build out the infrastructure for this industry to have a wide-ranging economic impact.
This topic of discussion dates back to 2019, when Gov. Chris Sununu called for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to establish a tri-state federal task force to plan Gulf of Maine lease areas. It involves New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts working together to develop offshore wind as a reliable renewable energy source. This led New Hampshire to create the Offshore Wind Commission, which is led by Watters serving as chair. Its goal is to evaluate and push legislation to help spur the development of the offshore wind industry.
“I saw this as an extraordinary opportunity for economic development and job creation for New Hampshire,” Watters said, noting the state’s Seacoast region is in what he calls “a sweet spot” because its existing harbor facilities in Portsmouth and other locations help position the area to be an integral part of the up-and-coming industry in Northern New England.
This month, Watters introduced Senate Bill 151, which will be heard by the Legislature in the coming weeks. It would establish a framework for the future procurement of upward of 800 megawatts of renewable energy and the financing of offshore wind energy generation resources in New Hampshire through the solicitation and development of long-term contracts with distribution companies by the Public Utilities Commission.Your stories live here.Fuel your hometown passion and plug into the stories that define it.
The Seabrook nuclear plant produces 1.2 GW, so it would take 120 10MW wind turbines to equal the capacity of Seabrook.
“That [bill] will potentially lock in very, very competitive prices for New Hampshire consumers from offshore wind both existing [in southern New England] and what’s going to be built,” Watters said.
This is just the start of a lengthy process to bring projects like this to the Seacoast, leaders said.
Elizabeth Donohue, a representative from Eversource on the panel, said while developing the industry takes a lot of time and money, it gives back in terms of economic benefits. It will take regional partnerships to make it work, she said.
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Opposition to New Jersey’s coming surge in offshore wind farms is growing at the Jersey Shore.
The hundreds of wind turbines due to be built up to 20 miles off New Jersey in the next five years or so will spoil ocean views, undermine local economies and hurt wildlife while boosting the profits of overseas developers, critics say.
These opponents reject claims by wind farm builders and their enthusiastic supporters, including Gov. Phil Murphy, that the clusters of turbines are emissions-free. The manufacture and maintenance of the massive steel structures will require huge amounts of fossil fuel-powered energy, they argue.
They also say they fear that the tourism-dependent economies of many Shore towns will be damaged if visitors flee because they don’t want to look at an array of wind turbines on the horizon, or if the new structures disrupt marine life so much that recreational and commercial fishermen stay away.
And if fewer people want to spend time at the Shore, real estate values of coastal properties will drop, the critics predict.
“If people decide they don’t want any part of coming here, they will go elsewhere,” said Suzanne Hornick, administrator of SaveourshorelineNJ, a Facebook page that’s dedicated to opposing the industry, and has about 3,100 members.
Hornick, who lives in Ocean City, said she fears the town will be devastated by wind farms. “If tourism, and recreational and commercial fishing collapses then our restaurants collapse and our schools go to hell and the next thing you know people move off the island, and you have no community at all,” she said.
Critics are focused on Ocean Wind, a planned wind farm that will consist of about 100 turbines about 15 miles off Atlantic City. The project, New Jersey’s first, is due to generate 1,100 megawatts (MW), or enough to power about 500,000 homes, starting in 2024.
The developer, Denmark’s Ørsted, says visibility of the turbines from the shore will depend on atmospheric conditions. But Hornick said Atlantic City’s tallest building, the former Revel casino, is clearly visible from Ocean City, 16 miles away, or about the same distance as the Ocean Wind turbines will be from the Jersey Shore.
Afraid the turbines will be eyesores
At some 850 feet tall, the turbines planned for Ocean Wind will be higher than the 735-foot casino building, and so will be an eyesore on the horizon, she said.
At night, the wind farm will be lit to warn ships and air traffic of their presence, and that will be another visual violation, Hornick said. “These things are going to be so brightly lit, it’s going to look like an industrial park. The days of moonlight beach strolls are gone, and that’s not OK with us.”
But the visual impact could be reduced using lights that only come on when they are activated by radar from nearby ships or airplanes, according to Atlantic Shores, another project planned for an area between Atlantic City and Barnegat Light on Long Beach Island. That project, a 50-50 joint venture between Shell New Energy and EDF Renewables, is being reviewed by the Board of Public Utilities, and could generate up to 2,300 MW starting in 2027.
The two New Jersey projects are among 15 that are currently proposed for the northeastern and mid-Atlantic coasts. On Monday, the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said it has completed its environmental review of Vineyard Wind, an Ørsted project off the coast of Massachusetts that is likely to be the first U.S. commercial-scale wind farm to begin operating. Advocates said the announcement was a sign that the Biden administration is serious about kick-starting the offshore wind industry after years of delay.
Seven East Coast states including New Jersey have committed to buying more than 28,000 MW of offshore wind power in the next 15 years, and some power-purchase agreements such as that for Ocean Wind, have been signed.
Asked how the European offshore wind industry has been able to overcome any environmental or economic problems since becoming established some 20 years ago, Hornick said she believes that Europeans are more likely to accept what their governments tell them than are Americans.
Distance makes a difference
Despite concerns about damage to tourism, research from the University of Rhode Island into the effects on tourism of a small wind farm — the first of its kind on the East Coast — that has been operating off nearby Block Island since 2016 found that occupancy and revenue increased on the island after the wind farm was built because visitors wanted to see it for themselves.
And a University of Delaware study last year found that tourists have fewer problems with offshore wind farms the further away they are. Twenty-nine percent said they wouldn’t visit the beach if turbines were 2.5 miles away but only 5% said they would be put off if the farm was 20 miles away — the outer limit for the Atlantic Shores project.
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