Government-Level News
A quick recap of offshore wind developments in the public sector and decisions on the government level that made our news this week. For more updates from the offshore wind industry, visit offshoreWIND.biz.
The European Union (EU) has requested dispute settlement consultations at the World Trade Organization (WTO) concerning Taiwan’s use of local content criteria for offshore wind projects.
In 2021, Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) published a localisation policy for the first phase of its Round 3 offshore wind tenders which was completed in December 2022.
According to local regulations, at least 60 per cent of the components used in offshore wind farm projects must be procured locally, unless the Taiwanese supply chain is unable to supply the necessary products or services.
However, in the view of the EU, Taiwan’s local content eligibility and award criteria in energy capacity allocation auctions for offshore wind farms are inconsistent with its WTO commitment to not discriminate against imported goods and services.
The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has released the final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for US Wind’s Maryland offshore wind project, indicating that the project is nearing the end of the federal review process.
BOEM held three public scoping meetings in June 2022 to solicit public input on the environmental review process and hosted two in-person and two virtual public meetings in October 2023 to gather feedback on a draft of the EIS from Tribal Nations, local community members, commercial fishing interests, and other ocean users.
If approved, the Maryland offshore wind project could generate between 1,100 MW and 2,200 MW of clean, renewable energy to the Delmarva Peninsula, which could power up to 770,000 homes.
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The UK government has decided to increase the budget for the next Allocation Round 6 (AR6) to GBP 1.5 billion, including GBP 1.1 billion for offshore wind. The funding uplift represents more than a 50 per cent increase on the budget previously set in March this year.
At the beginning of this year, the UK government revealed a budget of GBP 1 billion for this year’s Contracts for Difference (CfD) AR6 with the majority of it, GBP 800 million, earmarked for offshore wind.
However, the new budget, announced on 31 July by the UK’s Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Miliband, marks a GBP 500 million increase over the funding set by the previous Conservative government.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore has earmarked USD 4.7 million (approximately EUR 4.3 million) in federal funds for training and job placement initiatives to expand the US state’s offshore wind workforce.
The funding, made possible through the US Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration Good Jobs Challenge, is said to help make Maryland more competitive by creating a skilled worker pipeline into the state’s wind energy industry with a focus on building a diverse and inclusive workforce.
The new grant opportunity is part of the Maryland Department of Labor’s Maryland Works for Wind initiative, which was allocated USD 23 million in federal funds in 2022 to develop the state’s wind industry.
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