News & Articles on Offshore Wind
I’ve written very little about offshore wind. It’s a subject I don’t follow closely. Nevertheless, I do come across an article or topic on offshore wind from time to time that I want to highlight and that’s the reason for this page. Offshore wind is an important branch of wind energy, but it is only a branch. It will be important in certain locations, such as the heavily populated eastern seaboard of the United States, where it makes sense. However, most wind energy is and will be generated on land.
Wind farm site supervisor released on bail for CO2 leak incident
By
External Source
The supervisor of an onshore wind farm construction site in Changhua County has been released on bail of NT$200,000 (US$6,260) following the death of a worker on Monday due to a CO2 leak incident, according to the Changhua District Prosecutors Office. The incident occurred on Aug. 20 at the Hai Long construction site for an offshore wind farm, resulting in one death, with two workers still in critical condition, and 14 others injured.
RFK Jr.’s ‘Sad’ Slide From Environmental Hero to Outcast
By
External Source
Opposition to offshore wind by the third-party presidential candidate turned Trump supporter began decades ago in the waters off Cape Cod. Project proponents say the fierce opposition by Kennedy, a presidential candidate who recently suspended his campaign but remains on the ballot in nearly three dozen states, had a long-lasting impact on the U.S. offshore wind industry and laid the seeds for opposition that continues today. “It set back offshore wind over 20 years in the United States,” said Jim Gordon, the former CEO of Cape Wind, the company that tried to build the Nantucket Sound project. Gordon said Kennedy was often the loudest, most combative voice of the well-funded opposition. “You have to understand that they created such a brouhaha and so much fear over the technology and the impacts, which have proven to be unfounded.”
CfDs can make offshore wind a fundamental feature in a future decarbonized electricity market
By
External Source
Offshore wind projects incur up to 90% of lifetime cost upfront and have very low operational costs. To finance the high upfront capital needs, projects typically take on long-term loans with heavy debt-service commitments. The economic viability of these projects hinges on stable, long-term revenues – but markets cannot deliver those, because of their volatile nature and limited hedging options.
Offshore wind requires Contracts for Difference – not subsidies
By
Jérôme Guillet
Governments procure renewables through a variety of mechanisms. Contracts for difference (CfDs) have been used for more than 50% of the global offshore wind supply. The payments awarded through CfDs are sometimes labelled subsidies, suggesting that they support uneconomic activity. Here, we argue that the primary role of CfDs is rather risk management by creating a market for electricity supply at stable long-term prices. Similar to its use in other sectors of the economy, this contract type transforms a variable to a fixed price to reallocate volatility risks. Such long-term contracts are often necessary for renewables financing due to limited hedging options in existing markets.
How to design a good offshore wind auction
By
Jérôme Guillet
As the offshore wind sector struggles with cost increases and the often-hostile scrutiny that this brings, it is worth taking a step back to think about how governments should design auctions to get projects built at the lowest possible cost. Several of the recent highly publicised project cancellations or delays are directly linked to poor auction design, so it makes sense to avoid or correct certain mistakes. The goals of auctions are many, and some governments may prioritise some over others, but it is worth listing them explicitly.
Five grand challenges of offshore wind financing in the United States
By
Jérôme Guillet
We identify and describe five grand challenges affecting offshore wind finance in the U.S. Failing to address these challenges may put deployment targets at risk. The challenges include (1) Early years financing: navigating the complexities, timing mismatches, and high costs of projects in the development phase; (2) Policy support for project financial solvency: addressing the uncertainty and systematic transfers of tax credits away from offshore wind, characteristic of the U.S. Investment Tax Credit; (3) Workforce development: building a skilled workforce for an emerging market; (4) Transmission and integration barriers: upgrading the power grid to reliably support large scale offshore wind integration; and (5) Floating wind development: financing the development and scale-up of floating offshore wind technologies. The second challenge has already been solved to a large extent by the Inflation Reduction Act.
