Top US Offshore Wind Market Updates in wks 18-20

4 x Offshore Wind Project Updates

• Ocean Wind, New Jersey. A survey conducted by Bellweather Research on behalf of ?rsted with New Jersey residents found that 82% favor the expansion of offshore wind in the state. 77% indicated support for the Ocean Wind project, with 70% of beachfront property owners supporting the development. 52% of the 600 surveyed cohort stated that they were less likely to support an elected official who wants to stall offshore wind development.
• Vineyard Wind 1, Massachusetts. An offshore wind mariner update (no.24) has been issued stating that geotechnical surveys will be taking place in the northern portion of Vineyard Wind Lease Area (OCS-A 0501). The area covered by the surveys corresponds with the coordinates and Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) block numbers of the Vineyard Wind 1 project. 
• Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, Virginia. Automatic identification system (AIS) maritime data shows that Jan De Nul Group’s Vole au vent jack-up installation vessel is en route from the UK to Halifax, Canada. The vessel is poised to install the 2x6MW Siemens Gamesa turbines on the US’s first monopile foundations this summer.

Dominion Energy Inc’s., Earnings Conference Call for Q1 2020 held on May 5, confirmed that construction at the pilot project will start in the summer.

• Dominion Power, Virginia . Dominion Energy Inc’s., Earnings Conference Call for Q1 2020 held on May 5, confirmed that the 2.6GW CVOW project is on-track to meet legislated approval standards, with the submission of the Construction and Operation plan to the BOEM to take place by year-end and an initial rider filling to be made in 2022.

3 x Policy Developments

• National. Publication of the American Wind Energy Association’s (AWEA) Wind Powers America First Quarter 2020 Report, showed that offshore wind now accounts for 19% of the US’s total wind capacity pipeline for projects under construction or in an advanced stage of development. With the 804MW Mayflower Wind Massachusetts project entering the advanced development stage in Q1, there is now 8,308MW of offshore wind capacity within these development phases.

• Gulf of Mexico. Offshore wind development in the Gulf of Mexico has been the subject of two new reports released by the BOEM in conjunction with research conducted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The reports’ results will inform Federal, State, and local strategic renewable energy planning over the next decade, the BOEM has stated.

Offshore Renewable Energy Technologies in the Gulf of Mexico, examines different offshore technologies – including wind, wave, tidal, current, solar, deepwater source cooling, and hydrogen - within the GOM to determine which are the best fit for the region. Offshore wind demonstrated the greatest resource potential within the region and is the most mature technology analyzed. The study analyzes the economic feasibility of offshore wind for selected sites in the GOM.

Offshore Wind in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico: Regional Economic Modeling & Site-Specific Analyses, utilized a 600MW reference site with a commercial operations date of 2030 and found that such a project could support c.4,470 jobs and $445 million in the gross domestic product (GDP) during the construction phase, with an ongoing 150 jobs and $14 million GDP during the operations phase.

• Virginia. May 1, Dominion Power Inc., unveiled its Integrated Resource Plan 2020 which saw the state-utility quadruple its renewables buildout ambitions up to 2035. The 2020 IRP targets 5,100MW of offshore wind, up from 860MW under the 2019 IRP. Dominion Energy Inc’s., potential total offshore wind investment 2020 through 2035 (subject to the regulatory authorization of capacity volumes up to 5.2GW) sits between ~$8 billion - $17 billion. The investment pot allocated for the period 2020-24 sits at $3.5 billion, excluding vessel investment. That is a significant hike on the 2019-2023 plan which earmarked $1.1 billion under the earlier 860MW deployment scenario.

1 x Infrastructure Investments

• Virginia / National. Dominion Energy Inc’s., Earnings Conference Call for Q1 2020 held on May 5, confirmed earlier reports that the utility is investing within a consortium to construct a Jones Act compliant installation vessel, ready to service multiple offshore projects – including their own 2.6GW CVOW and 12MW CVOW pilot projects – from 2023. The amount of investment fronted by Dominion is yet to be determined, but the company has stated that the vessel will be equipped to handle existing and next-generation turbine technology.

2 x Supply and Service Contract Awards

• EDR. Connecticut-based EDR has been awarded the lead environmental permitting consultancy contract at the Atlantic Shores project. The contract will be supported by strategic partner Epsilon Associates, alongside consulting companies, including Baird, Jasco Applied Sciences and SNC-Lavalin. EDR will lead the team in the preparation towards COP submission which will determine the placement and layout of the project.
• Dominion Virginia Wind Energy Area. An online event organised by the UK’s Norfolk & Suffolk Unlimited and the City of Virginia Beach ran, bringing together over 20 UK offshore wind supply-chain with stakeholders involved in the CVOW project. The UK region, located along the East of England’s north sea shoreline, is looking to export services and expertise from its offshore industry which hosts more than 800 businesses and 11,800 employees. There is expected to be ￡60bn of capital investment in the UK region’s energy projects by 2040 and ￡1.3bn of offshore wind operations and maintenance opportunities by 2025. 
• Virginia Beach’s Director of Economic Development, Taylor Adams, said: “We’re delighted that companies from Norfolk and Suffolk can help us get our new offshore wind industry going. They have a huge amount of expertise and we are doing everything we can to give them a warm welcome over here.”

Source

This information was extracted from the US Offshore Wind Project Tracker which is a free document created and distributed by Reuters Events?. All subscribers can receive a weekly market update email with salient market intelligence.

Methodology

The US Offshore Wind Project Pipeline Tracker has been developed to provide you with the most up-to-date business-critical insight by harnessing intelligence from Federal, State and project level sources including the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) permitting and lease documentation, energy mandates, and strategies, and OSW developer corporate reports, project proposal submissions, and project press releases. Media news outlets including the New Energy Update news, industry publications and stakeholder updates are also consulted and verified against official sources and documents.