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Offshore wind left NJ high and dry. Now it’s NY’s turn to cry

Efforts to build new wind farms in upstate New York near Albany, including at the Port of Coeymans, took a major hit when General Electric wasn’t able to produce the turbines needed for three key projects. Photo: Chris Rahm/Oceans 8 Films

By POLITICO’s Marie J. French

New York’s signature offshore wind projects meant to boost confidence in the industry are being scrapped, a major hit to the industry in the state and the nation.

The decision is another setback to New York’s aspirations to achieve 70 percent renewable energy by 2030 and be a hub for the nascent industry in the United States. It will also be another challenge for President Joe Biden’s already likely out-of-reach 30 gigawatt goal for offshore wind by 2030.

In October 2023, Danish wind power developer Ørsted announced that it was canceling its Ocean Wind 1 and Ocean Wind 2 projects in southern New Jersey due to financial unfeasibility. The company cited a number of reasons for the decision, including: Supply chain issues, Inflation, Inability to secure enough government tax credits, Rising interest rates, and Delays in the project schedule.

REGIONAL SETBACK, WITH GE GETTING BLAME — POLITICO’s Marie J. French and Ry Rivard: In the rush to save New York’s offshore industry from collapse last fall, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration bet big on three new wind farms — and even bigger on General Electric, a blue chip American company founded in Schenectady in 1892.

A win would be just the kind the Biden administration is looking for: Pairing clean energy with union jobs and domestic manufacturing.

But the bet was a losing one.

New York’s projects were key to President Joe Biden meeting his energy goals for the nation. The struggles of projects in the Northeast during his administration are a major setback for the industry and the woes could be much worse if former President Donald Trump, who is openly hostile to offshore wind, wins this fall.

For months, it’s been clear GE Vernova, a spinoff of GE, couldn’t deliver the crucial parts all three wind farms were forced to use. The company wanted the three wind developers to buy more smaller turbines. That blew up the balance sheet for the wind projects because each extra turbine would require massive underwater foundations, more labor, and availability of specialized ships, which are already scarce.

The irony of GE’s troubles was that it was supposed to be a panacea for the offshore wind industry’s supply chain issues. The company proposed building two factories along the Hudson River in the Albany area to make blades and nacelles — the inner guts of the turbine that transform the energy from the spinning blades into electricity.

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Offstage Windbag vs. Offshore Wind Energy

Former President Donald Trump speaks in front of an American flag.

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Feds finalize areas for floating offshore wind farms off Oregon coast

A Block Island Wind Farm turbine operates, Dec. 7, 2023, off the coast of Block Island, R.I., during a tour of the South Fork Wind farm organized by Orsted. The federal government has finalized two areas for floating offshore wind farms along the Oregon coast. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management says the two areas cover nearly 200,000 acres. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson,

By Clare Rush, Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The federal government has finalized two areas for floating offshore wind farms along the Oregon coast, authorities announced Tuesday, bringing the state closer to commercially developing and producing a renewable energy source that’s part of the fight against climate change.

The two zones cover roughly 195,000 acres (78,914 hectares) and are both located in southern Oregon, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said. One area is 32 miles (52 kilometers) off the coast of Coos Bay, and the other is 18 miles (29 kilometers) from the shore of the small city of Brookings, located near the California state line. They have the capacity for producing 2.4 gigawatts of energy, the agency said, enough to power roughly 800,000 homes.

Following the announcement, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said she was committed to developing a transparent roadmap for exploring offshore wind opportunities with the input of coastal and tribal communities.

“Offshore wind is likely to play an important role in meeting our state’s growing energy demand and goal of 100% renewable energy by 2040,” Kotek said in a statement. “It also presents a significant economic development opportunity for the Oregon coast.”

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Offshore wind energy gets back in the news and planning in NJ

By Benjamin Storrow, E&E News

New Jersey’s efforts to establish a foothold in the offshore wind industry were buoyed Wednesday when it announced two new projects.

New Jersey was ground zero for offshore wind’s woes in 2023. Now, it’s a testing ground for the industry’s recovery.

New Jersey utility regulators awarded contracts Wednesday to a pair of the largest offshore wind projects ever planned in the United States. The two projects combined would generate enough power to supply 1.8 million homes and deliver an emissions cut equivalent to removing nearly 1.3 million cars from the road.

The decision by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities came on the heels of a Danish developer’s move last year to cancel two projects slated to serve the state. The cancellation dealt a major blow to Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy’s climate and clean energy goals and raised serious questions about the future of offshore wind in the United States.

But in awarding offshore renewable energy credits to Leading Light Wind and Attentive Energy Two, state officials said last year’s setbacks were only temporary.

“It is the clearest sign of the long-term commitment from the state of New Jersey and Gov. Murphy, and the beginning of the bounce back after a pretty crummy 2023,” said Tim Sullivan, chief executive officer of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

Leading Light Wind would be a 2.4-gigawatt project built more than 40 miles off the New Jersey coast. It is the second-largest offshore wind farm proposed in the United States after a 2.6-GW development off Virginia that’s slated to begin construction later this year. Leading Light is a joint venture of clean energy developers Invenergy and energyRe. The pair are the first American-based developers to win a competitive contract for an offshore wind farm in the United States.

“We sort of ceded this offshore business to foreign companies” because Europe got a head start, Invenergy CEO Michael Polsky said in an interview. But he said U.S. efforts were important for American know-how and “the ability to do things.”

He said the company’s experience developing everything from onshore wind and transmission projects to a natural gas plant supplied by liquified natural gas in El Salvador would aid Invenergy in its first offshore wind venture.

“We know how to deal with new challenges,” Polsky said.

Leading Light will fully develop the 76,000-acre lease it purchased in a federal auction for $645 million. The move contrasts with other companies, which have moved to develop their federal leases in stages. However, a full build-out provides the developers with more certainty and an opportunity to achieve greater economies of scale, creating efficiencies and driving down costs.

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The first U.S. utility-scale offshore wind farm just got the first offshore substation built in the U.S.

By Michelle Lewis, Electrek

The first US-built offshore substation is now standing at New York’s South Fork Wind, the first utility-scale offshore wind farm in US federal waters.

South Fork Wind’s 1,500-ton, 60-foot-tall offshore substation was designed and engineered in Kansas and then built near Corpus Christi, Texas, by Kiewit Offshore Services, the largest offshore fabricator in the US. The substation sailed from Texas to New York in May.

Offshore substations collect and stabilize the power generated by wind turbines, preparing the power for transmission to shore.

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NJ Republicans continue to pound Murphy over ocean wind policy

From the NJ Senate Republicans

He took $1 BILLION from utility customers and gave it to a HUGE foreign wind developer.

New Jersey families and businesses are already paying higher electric bills to build offshore wind farms.

Ørsted, a Danish company, was supposed to return that money to ratepayers to offset the cost of utility bills.

Instead, they threatened to walk away from their offshore wind project unless they got to keep the $1 BILLION.

Trenton Democrats IGNORED THE COST to New Jerseyans and RUBBER STAMPED THE BAILOUT.

ANOTHER WIND DEVELOPER is already lining up for ANOTHER BAILOUT that will raise utility bills even higher.

“Ørsted is realizing that wind farm projects don’t make economic sense without major government subsidies, so now they’re looking for a huge handout at the expense of utility customers. We shouldn’t give it to them.” – Senator Ed Durr (R-3), June 28, 2023.

“Democrats like Governor Murphy who often complain about corporate welfare had absolutely no problem giving $1 billion to a foreign wind farm developer at the expense of New Jersey ratepayers. Other wind farm developers are already lining up at the trough of big government begging for their own bailouts, which Governor Murphy is likely to give them.” – Senator Michael Testa (R-1), July 6, 2023.

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Beneath towering turbines, US energy secretary says Block Island Wind Farm is nation’s model

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on the Rhode Island Fast Ferry, touring the Block Island Wind Farm tour

By Antonia Noori Farzan, Province Journal, June 3, 2023

THREE MILES OFF THE SOUTHEAST COAST OF BLOCK ISLAND – The Block Island Wind Farm should serve as a model for the rest of the country, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told reporters during a tour of the first-in-the-nation offshore wind facility on Friday.

“We want to replicate this, even bigger, all up and down the Atlantic seaboard, but also in the Pacific and in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Great Lakes,” Granholm said, standing aboard a ferry that rolled gently in the ocean swells. “We want to be able to generate clean energy all across America.”

Granholm was joined Friday by elected officials including Gov. Dan McKee, Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, and Rep. Seth Magaziner, as well as representatives from Ørsted, which owns the wind farm. Only three of the five turbines were spinning: Routine maintenance will be taking place throughout the summer, while there are lighter winds and calmer conditions, Ørsted representatives said.

Ørsted is also behind the South Fork Wind Farm, which is under construction. Spokeswoman Meaghan Wims said the project is approaching “steel in the water” – the wind-farm equivalent of “cranes in the sky” or “shovels in the ground.” In fact, as the Rhode Island Fast Ferry sped toward Block Island, the Living Stone, a cable-laying ship deployed on the South Fork project, could be seen on the horizon.

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm – with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, third from right, and other federal and state officials and representatives from wind-power company Ørsted – gets a closer look beneath one of the five turbines of the Block Island Wind Farm, first offshore wind farm in the nation.

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The Providence Journal

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Eversource takes first step to exit wind farm development

Wind turbines located off of Block Island in Rhode Island. Eversource Energy officials announced Thursday, May 25, 2023 that they are selling the company's 50 percent ownership stake in 175,000 acres ton which a wind farm can be developed that are located 25 miles off the southern coast of Massachusetts — Wind turbines located off of Block Island in Rhode Island. Eversource Energy officials announced Thursday, May 25, 2023 that they are selling the company’s 50 percent ownership stake in 175,000 acres ton which a wind farm can be developed that are located 25 miles off the southern coast of Massachusetts Don Emmert / AFP via Getty Images

By Luther Turmelle, Staff writer, Stamford Advocate

Eversource Energy took its first steps Thursday to getting out of the wind farm development business, selling its 50 percent ownership stake in a 175,000- acre site located 25 miles off the southern coast of Massachusetts.

The company sold its ownership stake for $625 million to its joint venture partner, the wind farm developer Orsted, Eversoujrce officials said. The Danish energy company currently owns the other 50 percent of the joint venture.

The deal between the two companies is expected to close by the end of the third quarter this year. Because Orsted is a Danish company, the lease sale will require the approval of the U.S. government’s Committee on Foreign Investment.

At the same time that Eversource is selling its ownership stake in the uncommitted wind farm site, the company has also signed a letter of intent with Orsted to buy tax credits that the Danish company has in the South Fork Wind project. The two companies are currently equal partners in that project, which is under construction 35 miles east of Montauk Point on Long Island and is scheduled to begin operating this fall, producing enough electricity to power 70,000 average homes.

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New York State is getting a big offshore wind factory (maybe)

By Michelle Lewis, Electrek

Wind turbine giant Siemens Gamesa announced on February 13 that it’s going to build a large offshore wind nacelle factory in New York State – giving the fledgling yet mushrooming US offshore wind industry yet another boost.

A nacelle is the housing on top of a wind turbine’s tower that contains the rotor and generator. It contains all the major components, including the gearbox, control electronics, and braking system.

New York State Offshore Wind Energy Projects

Ørsted and Eversource are going to use Siemens Gamesa wind turbines when they build the 130-megawatt (MW) South Fork, New York’s first offshore wind farm, and also the 924 MW Sunrise Wind, which is also in New York.

The factory will be sited at the Port of Coeymans, a fairly new marine terminal on the Hudson River, about 10 miles south of Albany. It will result in a $500 million investment in the region and will create around 420 direct jobs and a large number of indirect jobs.

The factory is subject to the company’s wind turbines being selected in New York State’s third offshore wind auction.

The 3D visualization of the facility is pictured above.

It would supply components for all Siemens Gamesa offshore wind power projects along the US East Coast.

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New Jersey utility rate counsel suggests state slow down the pace of offshore wind development

By Tom Johnson, NJ Spotlight

Offshore wind farms in New Jersey should consider scaling back how much new offshore wind capacity is approved next year because economic and financial uncertainties could lead to higher prices, according to the Division of Rate Counsel.

Rate Counsel Director Brian Lipman suggested slowing down the pace of offshore wind development as higher interest rates, supply chain disruptions, and inflationary pressures are causing some developers to seek to renegotiate the contracts they have been awarded to build wind farms.

“This is of great concern,’’ Lipman told the staff of the state Board of Public Utilities Tuesday during a stakeholder meeting. The board was meeting to discuss making a third solicitation for offshore wind projects early next year. Lipman suggested that the board’s staff develop guidelines to prevent after-the-fact increases to contracts awarded to developers.

Ørsted, the developer of New Jersey’s first offshore wind farm about 15 miles off Atlantic City, has acknowledged it is not earning what it expected on its U.S. projects. If the company seeks to renegotiate its contract, it must file a petition with the BPU, Lipman said.

“Ratepayers simply cannot afford drastically higher electric bills,’’ he said. Utility customers already have been hit with steep increases this winter in their heating bills because of the rising costs of natural gas. Monthly bills increased for the state’s four gas utilities from 15% to as much as 24% this fall.

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