Offshore Wind Energy Project News

The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will initiate an environmental review of Vineyard Northeast’s proposed offshore wind energy project, located 29 miles offshore Nantucket, Massachusetts at its closest point. BOEM estimates the proposed project would generate up to 2,600MW of electricity, enough to power more than 900,000 homes with clean renewable energy. The approximately 132,370-acre Lease Area is located some 29 miles (mi) from Nantucket and approximately 39 mi offshore Martha’s Vineyard…

The U.S. Department of Interior on Tuesday approved the construction and operations plan for the 2.6 GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, located approximately 23.5 nautical miles off Virginia Beach, VA.This is the fifth approval of a commercial-scale offshore wind energy project in the United States.Located approximately 23.5 nautical miles offshore Virginia Beach, the CVOW commercial project is the largest yet.According to the Department of Interior, the project is expected to provide about 900 jobs each year during the construction phase and support an estimated 1…

The U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) on Tuesday approved the construction of a 704-megawatt (MW) wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island, the fourth major offshore wind project the agency has greenlit as the Biden administration tries to meet a goal of bringing 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind power online by 2030.The Revolution Wind project about 15 nautical miles southeast of Point Judith, R.I. is being developed by Eversource and Ørsted as Rhode Island and Connecticut's first utility-scale offshore wind farm…

The offshore substation and jacket foundation, bound for the U.S. offshore wind project Vineyard Wind 1, have left the quay at Bladt Industries’ production site in Southern Denmark, heading for its destination 35 miles from mainland Massachusetts.Sail-away is on time according to the original schedule and is a major milestone for the project team from Bladt Industries, Semco Maritime, and ISC Consulting Engineers.Vineyard Wind 1 is carried out as an EPC contract, with ISC as a subcontractor…

When Atlantic offshore wind (OSW) projects move into high gear they will kick-start a series of impacts affecting almost the entire East Coast economy, from logistics to transportation to utility projects and, of course, just about every aspect of port and maritime activities.The related topics of workforce development and employment are among the fundamental issues being pushed and pulled by OSW. How workforce development and education and training proceed – and succeed – will be critical for the U.S.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries will work together to address potential impacts of offshore wind energy development on NOAA Fisheries’ scientific surveys, which help to manage the United States’s fisheries.For 150 years, the NOAA’s scientists have collected survey data that form the basis of the science-based management of America’s federal fisheries, support the protection and recovery of marine mammals and endangered and threatened species…

As part of his Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad (EO 14008)—issued on the first day he took office—President Biden made significant commitments to renewable energy. These commitments include collaborating with multiple federal agencies in the United States and promoting critical industry support for the acquisition of electric vehicles for the federal fleet, as well as rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, the landmark international agreement signed in 2015 to limit global warming.

The offshore wind industry in the United States is growing exponentially, with multiple projects in the development stages off of the Atlantic coast. The total megawatt capacity of U.S. offshore wind farms is anticipated to reach 22,000 by 2030 and 43,000 by 2050. To support this growth, U.S. Department of Energy reports estimate over 40,000 new jobs will be created by 2030.The new jobs anticipated to support the offshore wind industry include a wide range of types, including engineers, trade workers, surveyors, scientists, technicians, managers, and seafarers.

The offshore wind industry in the United States is growing exponentially, with multiple projects in the development stages off of the Atlantic coast. The total megawatt capacity of U.S. offshore wind farms is anticipated to reach 22,000 by 2030 and 43,000 by 2050. To support this growth, U.S. Department of Energy reports estimate over 40,000 new jobs will be created by 2030.The new jobs anticipated to support the offshore wind industry include a wide range of types, including engineers, trade workers, surveyors, scientists, technicians, managers, and seafarers.

Denmark’s Ørsted won New Jersey’s first offshore wind solicitation with a 1.1-gigawatt project Ocean Wind, the largest offshore wind project to secure a development deal with a U.S. state to date.The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) announced in a press note that it has selected Ocean Wind, an offshore wind energy project proposed by Ørsted with support from Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG), to negotiate a 20-year offshore wind renewable energy credit (OREC) for an offshore wind farm with a capacity of 1,100MW.Located off the coast of Atlantic City, Ocean Wind will be New Jersey’s first large-scale offshore wind farm.

In a major developement, international consulting group COWI announced it plan to increase its presence in the USA significantly with the consultancy contract with Vineyard Wind in Massachusetts – the first major US offshore wind energy project.The Denmark-based specialist in  engineering, environmental science and economics said in a release that the project is part of a masterplan to construct 10 GW offshore wind farms.The next seven years will see 10 GW offshore wind farms be developed on the northern East Coast – including Massachusetts, New York State, Connecticut, New Jersey and Maryland.The first major offshore wind farm project is the Vineyard Wind project, which in phase 1 will generate 800 MW for Massachusetts.

The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) informs it has elected Kristin Decas, CEO and port director for the Port of Hueneme (Calif.) as its incoming chair for AAPA’s 2014-2015 activity year. Ms. Decas will take office at the conclusion of the association’s annual convention in Houston in November. “The upcoming activity year will be an exciting one and we look forward to Kristen’s leadership as AAPA continues to address the issues of most relevance and importance to all our member ports,” said Kurt Nagle, AAPA president and CEO. “Kristin is a proven leader and will be a great asset to AAPA, and to the port industry. Ms. Decas took over as the Port of Hueneme’s CEO in February 2012.

The Maine Public Utilities Commission has approved in a 2-1 vote a term sheet for Maine Aqua Ventus’ pilot offshore wind energy project. The decision clears a hurdle for Maine Aqua Ventus in its path to receive electric ratepayer support as it tests new offshore wind technology developed at the University of Maine. (Maine Aqua Ventus is a consortium made up of Emera, Cianbro and Maine Prime Technologies LLC, a spin-off company representing UMaine). The Term Sheet agreed outlines the conditions under which Maine Aqua Ventus I will sell an estimated 43…

The latest seabed survey of the Dogger Bank offshore wind zone takes the cost of the Forewind consortium's spend on offshore surveys to almost £45 million. Since being awarded the rights to develop Dogger Bank in January 2010, Forewind has undertaken a huge range of geotechnical, geophysical and fish ecology surveys to understand and characterise the seabed and marine conditions of the zone as part of its environmental impact assessment work. The majority of the contracts have gone to UK companies including Hull-based Precision Marine Survey Limited…

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has issued a request to determine whether there is competitive interest in the construction of a transmission system between the Rhode Island coastline and Block Island, an important step in evaluating a transmission project proposed by Deepwater Wind that would deliver electrical power from its proposed 30 megawatt Block Island Wind Farm in state waters. BOEM received an application from Deepwater Wind requesting a right-of-way grant for an eight nautical mile-long, 200-foot wide corridor in federal waters on the Outer Continental Shelf to connect their proposed offshore wind farm, located in Rhode Island state waters approximately 2.5 nautical miles southeast of Block Island, to the Rhode Island mainland.

Scira Offshore Energy, the company developing the UK's Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm  with its 88 turbines situated between 9-17 miles off the coast of North Norfolk, is to charter Eden Rose, one of Tidal Transit’s innovative wind farm personnel and equipment transfer boats, to service the site development. The Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm is the third major offshore wind energy project to be supported by Tidal Transit vessels. Immediately after her arrival in the UK from Spanish ship builder, Mercurio Plastics, Eden Rose went into operation for RES Offshore in Grimsby, servicing meteorological masts 60 miles out into the North Sea…