It is a case of the glass being half-empty or half full. Half empty because the US development of offshore wind power is taking a regulatory buffeting delaying construction. But the glass is also half full, as offshore windpower’s tremendous potential could invigorate US marine industries, as well as providing green power to the grid. By Stas Margaronis, AJOT As Europe and China move ahead with the development of offshore wind farms, the US industry faces “headwinds” that continue to delay wind farm construction. Speaking at the Green Power Offshore Wind Power conference in Boston on February 22, Brian Redmond managing director of CP Energy Group, noted the industry’s problems include:
  • Low cost oil and gas prices;
  • Delays in federal approvals of projects;
  • Delays by Congress in extending a production tax credit extension creating uncertainty and delays among developers and utilities.
Redmond attempted to put the best face on the situation by noting that Cape Wind the Massachusetts offshore wind project had just negotiated a power purchase agreement that assures that it will move forward. He also noted that the Deep Water Wind project in Rhode Island is moving closer to a start date, and federal regulatory approvals are streamlining the permit approval process. He said that developers are beginning to accept that the Atlantic Wind Connection project to create a mid-Atlantic offshore transmission line will help developers. He noted the cost of power will decline with the deployment of more powerful wind turbines that will go from the 3 megawatt (mw) generation to 7 mw. Jim Lanard, president of the Offshore Wind Development Coalition, told conference participants that political resistance from fossil fuel interests continues to plague wind farm development. He said, “Every year’s delay in stopping the development of clean renewable offshore wind power delays the reduction of carbon emissions and is another year won for extending our dependence on carbon producing energy generation sources.” He also noted that the extension of a production tax credit will hopefully be passed no later than in the lame duck session of Congress after the 2012 presidential election. He also noted progress on the state level, such as that at Cape Wind, has won a power purchase agreement for over seventy-five percent (75%) of output. In New Jersey, he said, Governor Christie, a conservative Republican, is backing the development of offshore development but is insisting that projects must show that they generate jobs in New Jersey. Role of Transmission Pierre Bernard, head of business development for Elia, a Belgium-based grid operator, which owns grid operations in Germany and recently bought a 10% stake in the Atlantic Wind Connection (AWC), told the AJOT that he is positive about the US industry’s future. He believes that, aside from connecting offshore wind power, the AWC project could also foster security of supply and reduce the risk of brown outs by reducing congestion on over taxed power lines that will help reduce costs and increase reliability, justifying the moderate increase in utility rates. Bernard says that the lack of modernization in transmission lines in the US and the difficulty in obtaining appropriate permits are increasing the incidence of brown outs and black outs and for this reason alone, new offshore transmission lines are needed near population centers such as the US Atlantic Coast: “Europe initially has faced the same set of delays faced by US developers but benefited from a European Commission mandate that utilities needed to source 20% of their power from renewable resources by 2020… If you ask the average person what they know about the transmission and grid technology, the only thing most people know is that when you flip a switch, you get light. We, as an industry, need to change this by providing simple understandable explanations for the importance of transmission and the infrastructure spending to build new p