Maryland Offshore Wind Projects Receive Final BOEM Approval
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced its approval of the Construction and Operations Plan for the Maryland Offshore Wind project. This is the final approval needed from BOEM for the project which has also received approvals from Maryland and recently the National Marine Fisheries Service.
“This project will power over 718,000 homes and support almost 2,680 jobs annually over seven years,” said BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein. The bureau noted that it is the approval of the nation’s tenth commercial-scale offshore wind energy project.
The Maryland Offshore Wind Project comprises a lease area located approximately 8.7 nautical miles offshore of Maryland and approximately 9 nautical miles from Delaware. U.S. Wind, a partnership between Italy’s Renexia and American investment firm Apollo Global Management, won its lease for nearly 47,000 acres in August 2014.
“After more than four years of rigorous and robust analysis, we are thrilled to have secured this final BOEM approval,” said Jeff Grybowski, CEO of US Wind CEO. “US Wind’s projects will produce massive amounts of homegrown energy and will help satisfy the region’s critical need for more electricity, all while supporting good local jobs.”
The Department of the Interior issued its Record of Decision for the projects in September 2024 clearing the way for today’s approval of the Construction and Operations Plan. The approved project includes the multiple-phase construction and operation of up to 114 wind turbine generators, up to four offshore substation platforms, one meteorological tower, and up to four offshore export cable corridors. Two phases, known as MarWin (which was proposed as 300 MW with 22 turbines) and Momentum Wind (proposed for 800 MW with up to 55 turbines), are moving forward while the company has proposed a third phase. The first two projects also have offshore renewable energy certificates from the State of Maryland.
US Wind in July 2024 applied with Maryland to increase the total capacity of the company’s offshore wind portfolio by more than 600 MW, for a total of 1,710 MW. In total, US Wind’s application sought the authority to sell just under 7 million megawatt hours of offshore wind energy to Maryland annually, supporting the 1,710 MW build-out of the company’s entire federal lease area, with 840 MW proposed for OREC Round 1 and 870 MW proposed for OREC Round 2. US Wind said it would provide a critical foundation for Maryland to achieve its 8.5 GW goal.
The company has also committed to establishing Maryland’s first offshore wind factory – Sparrows Point Steel – in Baltimore County and facilitates the development of Maryland’s first offshore wind cable manufacturing facility in Baltimore City, Hellenic Cables.
It would be Maryland’s first offshore wind energy projects. The state also approved two phases for Ørsted's Skipjack Wind project that would have provided 966 MW. The company however in January 2024 withdrew its agreements saying, the proposed two-phase project was “no longer commercially viable because of today’s challenging market conditions, including inflation, high interest rates, and supply chain constraints.” Ørsted said it would reposition Skipjack Wind and in the future seek new state and federal approvals.
Akselos and ABS Partner to Drive Innovation in Floating Offshore Wind
[By: Akselos]
Akselos, the world’s leading provider of Structural Performance Management (SPM) software, and the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), a global leader in classification and technical advisory services, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to advance the engineering, design verification, certification, and classification phases of floating wind projects.
Under this MoU, ABS and Akselos will collaborate to deliver best-in-class solutions for the floating wind sector, both in the U.S. and globally. This collaboration combines ABS's expertise in floating wind certification and classification with Akselos' advanced structural risk mitigation and optimisation technology. The partnership specifically targets the crucial design phase of floating offshore wind projects, aligning efforts to optimise costs and enhance efficiency, while simultaneously ensuring structural integrity.
The partnership will support the overarching goal set by the Floating Offshore Wind Energy Shot, which aims to reduce the cost of floating offshore wind energy by over 70%, reaching $45 per megawatt-hour by 2035 for deep-water sites far from shore.
“Our floating wind alliance with ABS, a leader in offshore certification and classification, is a strategic step to add value to this very promising yet challenging industry,” said Guillaume Lechaton, Wind and New Energies Director at Akselos. “By combining ABS's expertise with Akselos’ advanced simulation tools, we aim to create a framework for more reliable, robust, and cost-efficient solutions for designers and operators.”
“Partnering with ABS, a leader in offshore certification builds upon years of collaboration in the upstream sector. It will further strengthen our offering by merging our simulation expertise with ABS’s industry leadership, ensuring safe, reliable, and high-performing FOWT designs”, said David Knezevic, Akselos' Chief Scientific Officer.
“The safe, sustainable, reliable and fit-for-purpose infrastructure required for the floating offshore wind market is crucial for the growth and evolution of the industry. Enabling enhanced technology solutions will aid in the reduction of LCOE, levelized cost of energy, and support decision making by financial and insurance institutions. The partnership between ABS and Akselos will support the ever-growing need for renewable offshore energy, cementing our position in the offshore wind market and continue to support the design, construction and installation of Floating Wind,” Rob Langford, Vice President, Global Offshore Renewables, ABS.
This MoU reinforces Akselos' commitment to delivering cutting-edge technologies that address the challenges of complex engineering environments, paving the way for increased innovation and reliability.
The products and services herein described in this press release are not endorsed by The Maritime Executive.
BOEM Identifies Environmental Measures for NY Bight Wind Energy Development
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management today issued a Record of Decision identifying environmental measures expected to be applied to future wind energy development of the six lease areas offshore New York and New Jersey in an area known as the New York Bight. The bureau continues to push forward offshore wind projects with some experts saying the goal is to secure as much of the development before the end of the Biden administration in January 2025.
The six lease areas in the New York Bight cover over 488,000 acres and were sold in a record auction at the peak of interest in offshore wind energy receiving total bids of over $4.3 billion. BOEM continues to estimate that full development of the six lease areas could generate up to 7 GW of offshore wind energy, enough to power up to two million homes.
For the first time, BOEM conducted a regional analysis of offshore renewable energy development and operations over multiple lease areas designed to expedite the projects in the NY Bight. BOEM reported in January 2024 that it decided to take this step to complete a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) because of the close proximity of the six lease areas and the timing of when BOEM expects to receive future project plans for review.
The Draft PEIS analyzed programmatic avoidance, minimization, mitigation, and monitoring measures that BOEM may require as conditions of its approval for any proposed offshore wind projects in the New York Bight. It was followed in October with the completed environmental review to assess potential wind development activities within six wind lease areas. The Proposed Action for the PEIS identified avoidance, minimization, mitigation, and monitoring measures that BOEM reported it may require as conditions for approval for activities proposed by lessees in the individual construction and operations plans submitted for these six lease areas. Additional environmental analyses specific to each proposed project would build on the PEIS.
Today’s record of decision identifies 58 previously applied avoidance, minimization, mitigation, and monitoring measures BOEM plans to apply across the six lease areas. To reduce potential environmental impacts, developers can consider these measures in the Construction and Operations Plans they submit to BOEM for subsequent review.
The six lease areas went to many of the leading developers in the industry. Bluepoint Wind, a partnership between Ocean Winds (a joint venture of EDP Renewables and ENGIE) and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), has one of the leases. Attentive Energy is part of France’s TotalEnergies while Community Offshore Wind was set up as a joint venture between RWE and National Grid Ventures.
Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Bight was a partnership between Shell New Energies US and EDF-RE Offshore Development, while Invenergy partnered with energyRe on another one of the leases and the final lease went to Vineyard Mid-Atlantic, an extension of Vineyard which has investments from Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.
Some of the projects have submitted early proposals to state regulators in New York and New Jersey but all are in the survey and planning stages. TotalEnergies, citing the political uncertainties, last week however said it planned to shelve its project. The others could use the work developed by BOEM to submit their individual environmental studies and construction and operation plans to BOEM.
Donald Trump during the presidential campaign renewed his opposition to offshore wind saying he would stop the industry. Industry groups however point out progress during the first Trump administration and hope to be able to continue development of renewable energy projects, possibly at a slower pace.
Sri Lanka Prepares to Launch Bidding for its First Offshore Wind Farms
Sri Lanka is planning to issue tenders for the development of two 500 MW offshore wind farms, according to Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) Chairman Tilak Siyambalapitiya. CEB is currently carrying out feasibility studies along the Sri Lankan west coast, specifically in the Mannar and Puttalam areas, which have been identified as suitable for offshore wind development. The studies will be complete by 2027, paving the way for bidding rounds in the following year.
“We have commenced a comprehensive study to prepare a roadmap for deploying offshore wind turbines. Backed by the World Bank, the initiative has completed a pre-feasibility study this year. The findings recommend targeting 1,000 MW of offshore wind development in the initial phase. Power generation is anticipated to start by 2030,” Siyambalapitiya told local media.
The World Bank estimates that Sri Lanka's total offshore wind potential is about 56GW, with the western and southern coasts having the most suitable wind speeds and technical conditions. Two areas near Mannar Island and Puttalam were identified to be suitable for fixed-bottom foundations, with moderate wind speeds averaging 8-9 m/s.
Out of the 56 GW of offshore wind potential, 27 GW of capacity is located in water depths of less than 50 meters, where fixed-bottom turbines are suitable. The rest of the 29 GW is floating wind capacity, located in deep waters of between 50-1,000 meters.
Sri Lanka has identified offshore wind as an important component of its carbon-neutral future. Last week, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a $200 million loan to upgrade Sri Lanka’s power sector infrastructure, facilitating greater integration of renewable energy.
While Sri Lanka’s total installed power generation capacity reached 5.2 GW in 2023, about 50 percent of the country’s electricity generation came from thermal power plants. But in its updated nationally determined contribution, Sri Lanka has set an ambitious target of 70 percent electricity generation from renewables by 2030 and carbon neutrality in the power sector by 2050.
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