Energy Economy News

Ørsted has installed and powered up all 12 turbines at the landmark South Fork project, and the first utility-scale U.S. offshore wind farm has started delivering power to Long Island and the Rockaways, offshore New York.The commissioning of the wind farm is in its final stage, and when at full capacity of 130 MW, it will generate enough renewable energy to power approximately 70,000 homes.The renewable energy is generated roughly 35 miles off the coast of Montauk, and will eliminate up to six million tons of carbon emissions over the life of the project…

The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), Crowley Wind Services and the City of Salem announced the transfer of ownership and an agreement for site improvements and ongoing operations for the Salem Offshore Wind Terminal.The agreement will kickstart the transformation of the site into the second port built specifically to support the construction of offshore wind farms in Massachusetts. The Salem Offshore Wind Terminal will also support the construction and installation…

An offshore wind hub is coming to the site of the former Avondale Shipyard in Louisiana as the region ramps up to service the growing renewable energy industry in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.New Orleans-based Gulf Wind Technology (GWT) announced Monday it is collaborating with energy supermajor Shell to establish a research, training and technology demonstration program at GWT’s facility within the Avondale Global Gateway in Jefferson Parish.The news comes after the Biden administration…

Corvus Energy this week celebrated the grand opening of its new battery factory in Bellingham, Wash., amid growing demand for energy storage systems in the U.S. marine industry.Located in Fairhaven at the Port of Bellingham, the new battery plant produced its first Orca battery module in November 2022 and has already delivered several orders.“We have seen a significant uptake in opportunities for maritime batteries from the U.S. market,” said Geir Bjørkeli, CEO of Corvus Energy.

U.S. offshore wind developer Atlantic Shores, a 50:50 partnership between Shell and EDF, has executed a Pre-Commitment and Capacity Reservation Agreement (PCCRA) with EEW American Offshore Structures Inc. (EEW-AOS) to serve as the manufacturing company for monopiles on its 1.5 GW offshore wind project.Located approximately 10–20 miles off the coast of Atlantic City, New Jersey, Atlantic Shores Project 1 will generate electricity for more than 700,000 households.According to the wind farm developer, the project will bring $848 million in guaranteed local economic benefits to the state.

A new pathway toward a low-emission and ultimately a zero-emission future in shipping has recently been opened up through the market introduction of a mono-fuel Hydrogen version of the Recuperated Split Cycle Engine.The HydroMAR-E project is part of the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition Round 2 (CMDC2) which was launched in May 2022, funded by the Department for Transport and delivered in partnership with Innovate UK. As part of the CMDC2, the Department allocated over…

The U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) earlier this month awarded a $50 million federal grant to H2theFuture, a 25-organization partnership aiming to develop a new energy cluster in South Louisiana, spanning the clean hydrogen life cycle, from R&D at Louisiana universities, to an end-use project at the Port of South Louisiana.The award is one of 21 projects from around the country chosen from 529 applicants that were funded by a $1 billion appropriation from the American Rescue Plan Act…

The Biden administration on Monday proposed offshore drilling safety measures that it said would help prevent oil spills and protect workers and the environment.The proposal aims to restore safety provisions put in place by the Obama administration in 2016 following the fatal 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon spill, the worst in United States history.The Trump administration had revised the rules in 2019 to reduce what the oil and gas industry said was a financial burden.The Interior Department…

President Joe Biden's administration on Friday unveiled a five-year proposal for offshore oil and gas development in areas of existing production, and said the final plan may have anywhere from zero to 11 lease sales.The range of options, between two auctions a year and none at all, sought to balance the administration's efforts to fight climate change with its calls to increase oil and gas supplies in the face of soaring fuel prices.The proposed plan includes no more than 10 possible sales in the Gulf of Mexico and one in the Cook Inlet off the coast of Alaska…

A new hybrid-electric tugboat due for delivery by end of December 2022 will be the first of its kind to operate in Japanese waters.The vessel, Taiga, is the result of a collaboration between Tokyo Kisen Co., Ltd. and e5 Lab Inc., a Japanese consortium with the purpose of planning and developing fully electric vessels. It is being constructed at the Kanagawa Dockyard Co., Ltd. in Kobe.Designed to enable zero-emission operations in harborside environments, it is equipped with ABB’s Onboard DC Grid…

If awards were given for dominating the sustainable energy spotlight, offshore wind (OSW) would surely be in line for top honors.Consider:Big money: BOEM’s February sale of New York Bight offshore wind development rights drew a record $4.37 billion in developers’ bids. Not only is that real money, but just as critically, “This week’s offshore wind sale makes one thing clear: The enthusiasm for the clean energy economy is undeniable and it’s here to stay,” exclaimed Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.Off Broadway: In January…

The U.S. will hold a wind energy auction for two lease areas offshore the Carolinas on May 11, the U.S. Department of the Interior said Friday, as the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has completed its environmental review.The lease areas cover 110,091 acres in the Carolina Long Bay area that, if developed, could result in at least 1.3 gigawatts of offshore wind energy, enough to power nearly 500,000 homes, the Department of the Interior said."The Biden-Harris administration is committed to supporting a robust clean energy economy…

The Biden administration's sale of offshore wind development rights off the coasts of New York and New Jersey drew a record $4.37 billion in high bids from developers that included major European energy companies.The auction, which began on Wednesday and stretched into Friday afternoon, is the first offshore wind lease sale under U.S. President Joe Biden, who sees the expansion of the industry as a way to tackle climate change and create jobs.The administration has set a goal to install some 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind by 2030 along the nation's coastlines and several states…

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has granted Construction and Operations Plan (COP) for the South Fork Wind, New York’s first offshore wind farm, Ørsted confirmed Thursday. This is the final decision needed from the agency to move the project toward the start of construction. The approximately 130 MW South Fork Wind project, owned by the Danish firm Orsted AS and U.S. company Eversource Energy, will be located about 19 miles (30.58 km) southeast of Block Island…

The U.S. Interior Department said on Wednesday it approved the South Fork offshore wind power project off the coast of Rhode Island, making it the second commercial-scale wind project with federal approval.The decision comes as the administration of President Joe Biden seeks to rapidly expand the U.S. offshore wind industry as part of its broader effort to decarbonize the nation's power sector by 2035, and the whole economy by 2050, to fight climate change.The approximately 130-megawatt South Fork Wind project, a joint venture of Danish firm Orsted AS and U.S.

Spanish renewables giant Iberdrola has informed that it has started construction work for the Vineyard Wind 1, the United States' first large-scale offshore wind farm.The offshore wind farm will be located off the coast of Massachusetts. It is 25 times larger than an existing offshore wind farm in Rhode Island, which has 30 MW installed capacity and supplies electricity to 17,000 homes.With 800 MW capacity, Vineyard Wind 1 will meet the electricity needs of more than 400,000 households and…

France-based offshore cable manufacturer and installation contractor Nexans announced Tuesday it has officially opened its transformed high voltage subsea cable plant in Charleston, S.C.From the Charleston facility Nexans will deliver subsea cables up to 525kV HVDC and 400kV HVAC, covering the full range of needed products for export cables for offshore wind and subsea interconnectors. The first subsea high voltage export cable will be delivered to an offshore windfarm in the U.K.

The Biden administration has announced ambitious plans to scale up leasing for offshore wind energy projects along the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts. In an announcement released on Oct. 13, 2021, the U.S. Department of the Interior stated that it will “use the best available science as well as knowledge from ocean users and other stakeholders to minimize conflict with existing uses and marine life.” University of Massachusetts Boston public policy scholar David W. Cash, who worked at senior levels in state government for a decade…

The Port of Corpus Christi Authority has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) as part of the Port’s commitment to decarbonization and energy transition initiatives.The agreement between the two parties is intended to advance collaboration between the Port of Corpus Christi, NREL and Port tenants by identifying scalable energy transition and decarbonization projects that require techno-economic-analysis, modeling, testing and validation efforts unique to NREL’s capabilities.

U.S. offshore wind farm developer Mayflower Wind announced Thursday that it has signed an agreement with Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding/Duclos Corporation of Somerset, Mass. for the specification, design and manufacture of a Jones Act-compliant, hybrid battery diesel electric crew transfer vessel (CTV).The design utilizes technologies that will provide significant fuel savings and emissions reductions, including the use of lithium-Ion battery energy storage to create a hybrid vessel that will be a bridge to full electrification.

Boatbuilders SAFE Boats International and Diverse Marine are teaming up to build vessels for the burgeoning U.S. offshore wind market.For the past three years U.S.-based SAFE Boats has been working with U.K.-based Diverse Marine promoting SAFE Boat designs in European markets, and now the companies have entered a formal partnership agreement to brings Diverse Marine’s crew transfer vessel (CTV) designs and experience to the U.S. offshore wind market.In support of the Biden Administration’s call to build a clean energy economy…

The Biden administration on Friday said it was seeking buyers for offshore wind energy leases in the shallow waters between Long Island and New Jersey as part of its effort to ramp up the share of offshore wind generation over the next decade.In a statement, the U.S. Department of the Interior said the proposed sale for offshore wind development on the Outer Continental shelf in the New York Bight has "the potential to unlock over 7 gigawatts of offshore wind energy, powering…

TotalEnergies announced today that it is extending research into the viability of ammonia as an alternative marine fuel, entering into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with 22 companies across diverse industries to initiate a joint study on ammonia as an alternative marine fuel. These industries include energy, mining, power utility, chemical, terminal, shipping, shipbuilding, manufacturing, bunkering and classification society.“Ammonia is seen as a promising future fuel for shipping from an emissions reduction and scalability perspective…