Tag Archives: offshore wind
Dirty Wind. When public business is done behind closed doors
That’s exactly what was going on last winter, when the Connecticut Port Authority, we now know, was hatching a grand plan, in secret, to drastically remake the historic port of New London, filling in seven acres of the river between the two existing piers, one a stone 19th Century structure on the National Register of Historic Places. The extensive $93 million project, to be done at the behest of Danish wind power giant Orsted and Connecticut utility Eversource, with the state contributing $35 million, would potentially close the port to traditional cargo for the better part of a generation. >click to read< 11:56
Survey say most Delaware beachfront residents oppose Skipjack Wind Project
Residents along Delaware’s beach areas don’t want a proposed offshore wind farm originally planned for Maryland. 84 percent of respondents to a survey on offshore wind are primarily opposed to two things, said the Caesar Rodney Institute’s David Stevenson.,, The Skipjack Wind Project, originally slated for Ocean City, Maryland, would use 850 foot-tall wind turbines, whose manufacturer said are roughly the size of New York City’s Chrysler Building. >click to read< 10:06
RODA Calls for 4 Nautical Mile Transit Lanes in New England Offshore Wind Areas
Today, RODA submitted a proposal to the U.S. Coast Guard, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and the National Marine Fisheries Service calling for the designation of 4 nm transit lanes through the New England wind energy lease areas. 4 nm transit lanes would preserve safe and efficient passage along the routes most often used by fishermen. >click to read< 08:30
Fishermen call for 4-nautical-mile lanes between offshore wind turbines – >click to read<
Wind Energy Is Not Renewable, Sustainable Or Climate-Friendly
Wind turbines continue to be the most controversial of so-called “renewable” energy sources worldwide. But, you say, wind energy is surely renewable. It blows intermittently, but it’s natural, free, renewable and climate-friendly. That’s certainly what we hear, almost constantly. However, while the wind itself may be “renewable,” the turbines, the raw materials that go into making them, and the lands they impact certainly are not. And a new report says harnessing the wind to generate electricity actually contributes to global warming! >click to read< 09:11
Offshore Wind Task Force Meets Today At UNH, livestream of the BOEM task force meeting beginning at 9 a.m. Thursday
New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts are set to begin planning how they might develop offshore wind energy in the Gulf of Maine. The first meeting of the tri-state task force takes place all day today at the University of New Hampshire and is open to the public. Watch a livestream of the BOEM task force meeting here beginning at 9 a.m. Thursday: >Click here to read, and watch livestream< 08:22
Offshore Wind Awaits Federal Environmental Reports
The latest industry initiative is the expansion of a cable factory in Charleston, S.C., where Paris-based Nexans plans to make some 620 miles of high-voltage power lines for the five wind projects under development by the utility Eversource and Danish energy company Ørsted. The companies declined to say how the five-year contract was granted. Nexans is also building a new cable-laying vessel with a 10,000-ton capacity.,,, The report was quickly criticized by representatives from the squid and scallop industry who said the 1-mile spacing between the turbines doesn’t improve safety and the layout restricts fishing. “This is the biggest screwup to hit our oceans ever,” said Dellinger, who is chairman of the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Advisory Board. >click to read< 16:58
Vineyard Wind: delayed project reveals bluster in US’s offshore wind ambitions
The recent decision by the Interior Department to hit the pause button on plans to build the first major US offshore windfarm off the Massachusetts coast means the project now hangs in the balance. Amid federal agency infighting, does the country risk squandering a vital resource of clean energy? We investigate. The waiting game: could Vineyard Wind be the new Cape Wind? >click to read< 16:09
Jones Act changes would ‘jeopardise countless US jobs’ in offshore wind
US fisheries advocacy body the Fisheries Survival Fund (FSF) has claimed proposed changes to the Jones Act – requiring that cargo, including wind turbines, shipped between US ports be transported on American-flagged vessels – could cost ‘countless of job opportunities’ to local companies in the rapidly emerging Northeast Atlantic offshore wind sector. “These proposed modifications would place foreign-owned offshore wind energy companies at a unique advantage not afforded to the thousands of US-owned maritime industries, including commercial fisheries,” said FSF counsel David Frulla. “FSF is not submitting this letter to oppose offshore wind energy development in its entirety,, >click to read< 09:21
This Blows! Fishing industry raps proposed wind energy grid
“The proposed layout specifies that turbines will be spaced 1 nautical mile (nm) apart, arranged in east-west rows and north-south columns, with the rows and columns continuous across all New England lease areas.” But the claim that the newly proposed layout would satisfy the requests of the fishing industry did not entirely hold up once the developers’ plan was released publicly Tuesday morning. An organization that advocates on behalf of the scallop industry said its members were not consulted,,, >click to read< 19:41
N.E. Offshore Wind Leaseholders Submit Uniform Layout Proposal to the U.S. Coast Guard
The five New England offshore wind leaseholders – Equinor, Mayflower Wind, Ørsted/Eversource, and Vineyard Wind- announced a uniform turbine layout proposal submitted to the U.S. Coast Guard with 1 nautical mile (nm) spacing between wind turbines. The companies issued the following joint statement: “In response to feedback from key stakeholders, we have proposed to adopt a uniform turbine layout across our adjacent New England lease areas. >click to read< Please >click here< for the report prepared by W.F. Baird & Associates Ltd. and an accompanying letter from the five New England offshore wind leaseholders. 07:49
Scam Alert: Claims Offshore Wind Will Soon Power The World Are Pure Bunkum
Built on lies and fuelled by subsidies, the wind industry is the biggest government mandated scam in history. Around the world, governments have thrown trillions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies at wind power; set mandates and punitive targets and helped developers ride roughshod over rural communities. Out at sea, trawlermen are left furious as they watch their once lucrative fishing patches get turned into industrial wastelands, and their livelihoods wrecked, forever. Now, the wind industry and its propaganda outfits are making even wilder claims about how offshore wind will soon deliver the bulk of the planet’s power needs. >click to read< 15:48
Impact of offshore wind on fisheries unknown
Fishing is an integral part of the blue economy, but the planned offshore wind development will affect over 100,000 acres of ocean currently used by fishermen to sustain the very industry the authors applaud. Once the Rhode Island-Massachusetts wind energy area is fully built out, an area of roughly 1,418 square miles – vastly larger than Cape Cod – will be covered in turbines roughly a mile apart. How this will affect fisheries is unknown. by Mary Newton Lima >click to read< 07:57
Proposed Customs and Border Protection Modifications Will Weaken the Jones Act
By Meghan Lapp – The Jones Act, or Merchant Marine Act of 1920, has been the foundation of U.S. maritime commerce for 100 years, requiring coastwise trade, i.e. transport of merchandise between two U.S. points, to be conducted on U.S.-flagged, U.S.-owned, U.S.-built vessels, which must be crewed by a minimum of 75% U.S. citizens and/or permanent U.S. residents.,,, On October 23, 2019, Customs and Border Protection issued a bulletin, “Proposed Modification and Revocation of Ruling Letters Relating to CPB’s application of the Jones Act to the Transportation of Certain Merchandise and Equipment Between Coastwise Points” (see page 12). >click to read< 14:35
‘A Whole New Industry’: N.H. To Work With Neighboring States On Offshore Wind in Gulf of Maine
New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts will work together on large-scale offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine. Stakeholders from the three states met today in Manchester talk about the possibilities and obstacles for that new industry. The event was hosted by the Environmental Business Council of New England at the state headquarters of Eversource, which is developing several large offshore wind projects elsewhere in the Northeast. >click to read< 14:06
Mass. Maritime Launches First-in-the-Nation Offshore Wind Training Facility
Governor Charlie Baker, Lt. Governor Karyn Polito, Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Kathleen Theoharides, and Stephen Pike, CEO of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, joined officials from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy to launch the first-in-the-nation offshore wind crew transfer training facility. The group of state and college representatives officially christened the training vessel as part of the 2nd Annual Massachusetts STEM Week. >click to read< 08:10
EnBW North America hires fisheries liaison
EnBW North America has appointed Beth Casoni as the company’s fisheries liaison and has joined the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance’s (RODA) joint industry task force devoted to address issues of mutual interest to commercial fisheries and offshore wind. The company said its immediate attention is on the New York Bight – an area off the coasts of New York and New Jersey, where the federal Bureau of Offshore Energy Management is expected to auction wind lease areas in late 2020. >click to read< 11:22
Offshore Wind Getting Crushed by Carbon Capture
Guest table-turning by David Middleton. Ms. Casey has a BA in philosophy, is a career bureaucrat. and has held several part time jobs with enviro-nitwit websites. Hence, she’s an energy expert. Whatever offshore wind power may or may not do in the future, is irrelevant to the fact that it’s currently only “crushing” the budgets of energy consumers.Offshore Wind vs. Carbon Capture: Who’s Crushing Whom? The US currently has one of each up and running. The energy math is decidedly one-sided. Block Island Wind Farm, The Block Island Wind Farm generates much less energy than an average single Marcellus gas well. In it’s first year of operation the Block Island Wind Farm managed a 39% capacity factor. >click to read< 09:14
“Long Time Champion” of offshore wind, tax credit creator, Sen. Markey receives “U.S. Wind Champion Award”
Senator Ed Markey (D-Mass.) has been named a U.S. Wind Champion for the 116th Congress by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) at an event hosted at Ørsted North America’s office in Boston. AWEA presents U.S. Wind Champion Awards to Members of Congress with exceptional records of support for the American wind industry and have demonstrated clean energy leadership. Senator Markey has been a long-time champion of offshore wind. Since 2011, Senator Markey has introduced a tax credit for offshore wind energy. >click to read< 13:22
Janet Mills wants Maine carbon-neutral by 2045. What will that take?
Gov. Janet Mills made a surprise announcement when she addressed world leaders at the United Nations Climate Action Summit last week: She had issued an executive order pledging that Maine will be carbon-neutral by 2045.,,, Renewable power drives everything. So what is that likely to look like? The good news is that Maine has massive renewable power potential, especially in regard to offshore wind, a sector the University of Maine is on the cutting edge of, having developed a floating turbine platform. Jacobson’s team already developed an all-renewable energy plan for Maine consisting of 35 percent offshore wind, >click to read< 17:25
Trump aide offers no guidance on Vineyard Wind
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management put the offshore wind farm on hold indefinitely in early August while it tries to gain a better understanding of the cumulative impact of the many East Coast wind farm projects currently in the pipeline. With the project in danger of being canceled if the delay lasts too long, James Bennett, the renewable energy program manager at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, gave no indication of when the agency’s review will be completed. >click to read< 08:33
Auction for offshore wind lease just around the corner
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is set to hold an auction to lease space approximately 25 miles off the coast of Eureka to develop an offshore wind energy project in 2020,,, We’re committed to building this project and that we’re able to do that in a way, again, that delivers benefits to the local community.” The companies are front-loading much of the work that needs to be done by trying to assess the impacts to wildlife and local industries, Studds said. >click to read< 16:07
Offshore Wind Energy Looks More Promising for Oregon
A stretch of the Pacific Ocean off the coast between Humboldt County, California, and Coos Bay, Oregon, has some of the highest wind power generating potential in the country. The area north of the California border looks particularly promising to green energy advocates because the region already has a functioning electric grid. But a past attempt to install five floating turbines off Coos Bay faced rising costs and opposition from the fishing industry, and was eventually moved to California when no one could be found to buy the high-priced power the facility planned to generate. >click to read< 11:24
Nation’s first mega-offshore wind project stalled for additional study
On most afternoons in Point Judith, Rhode Island, commercial fisherman Brian Loftus steers his trawler back into port after a 12-hour day. Loftus unloaded some 1,500 pounds of whiting, scup, skate and squid. Estimated revenue: $3,000. Loftus has fished for three decades here, but to him there’s a looming problem: Offshore wind developers plan to plop turbines more than 70 stories high into his fishing grounds. >click to read< 08:46
Will Connecticut Gov. Lamont entertain public input on a wind-only port?
Let’s all humor Gov. Ned Lamont and join him in looking away from the messy scandals at the Connecticut Port Authority and concentrate instead on the wind deal that the troubled agency hatched, a plan that could close the port of New London to traditional cargo for the better part of a generation. If I have the governor’s timetable correct, there will soon be a grand unveiling of the final $93 million plan, as already sketched out in permit applications, to convert New London’s port to a giant wind turbine assembly pad. >click to read< 10:20
Collision Course: Offshore Wind Turbines Present New (Unnecessary) Mortal Danger for Trawlermen
The fishermen who work off America’s Atlantic coast, are furious over plans to spear thousands of industrial wind turbines into their fishing grounds, destroying not only the seabed (the source of their income and prosperity), but wrecking their fishing grounds, forever. Trawlermen off the New Jersey coast have already told developers what they can do with their projects: Deepwater in Deep Trouble: Fishermen Tell Off-Shore Wind Farm Developers to F@*#K Off,,, >click to read< 08:21
CT offshore wind may face some rough seas
The state and its offshore-wind-loving neighbors all face a year-end expiration of a federal tax credit that helps finance these projects – the first major attempts in the U.S. But in Connecticut some problems – including at least one self-inflicted one – could mean forgoing that money.,, One part of that balancing act involves the fishing industry, which seems to have driven the delay after the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), a division of NOAA, refused to sign off on the Vineyard Wind environmental impact statement. Indeed, the fishing industry is among the few cheering the government’s protracted analysis of the plan.,,, >click to read< 09:48
UPDATED: News Media Bungled Vineyard Wind Ocean Turbine Reporting – Vineyard Wind decision delayed until December 2020
In the past ten years, journalism has seen a sudden shift and the overwhelming urge to promote one ideology over another. The majority of news outlets have decided to back commercial wind turbines on land and sea as their contribution to the environment. When you read stories about the Vineyard ocean wind project you have to look for what was left out of the story not what is in the story.,,, Pictures in the print media over the past month show a small fishing boat near an ocean wind turbine saying that less than a mile apart leaves the fishing industry plenty of room to continue their industry. What the media is leaving out is two ESPs, Electric Service Platforms,,, cables exposed,,, >click to read< 08:59
Sources: Vineyard Wind decision delayed until December 2020 – >click to read<
Marine Mammal Protection Act: Incidental Harassment Authorization Regulatory “Takes” – Take a Close Look
An IHA is a legal and enforceable document presenting the terms and conditions with which a company must adhere in order to protect wildlife. In this case, the draft IHA was for Vineyard Wind, the wind energy company ready to start construction on an 800 MW offshore wind farm in the Atlantic, covering about 675 square kilometers, starting 14 miles from the coastline of Martha’s Vineyard.,,, An IHA is required by the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) because, obviously, a huge project like this has impacts and it’s likely that “take” of marine mammals will occur during construction. >click to read< 08:26
Castle Wind signs MoU for 1GW California floater
Floating wind power developer Castle Wind has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a Californian utility to enter into a power purchase agreement for output from a 1GW offshore wind farm in the US Pacific Ocean.,,, EnBW North America and Trident Winds joint venture Castle Wind is in the early stages of developing the 1000MW project, located about 30 miles off the coast from the city of Morro Bay.,,, Last year the Morro Bay Commercial Fisherman’s Organisation and the Port San Luis Commercial Fishermen Association, entered into a mutual benefits agreement >click to read< 12:30
Vineyard Wind, welcome to our world…
Headline – Trump admin throws wrench into offshore wind plans – The Trump administration is ordering a sweeping environmental review of the burgeoning offshore wind industry, a move that threatens to derail the nation’s first major project and raises a host of questions for future developments. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, a division of the Interior Department, is ordering a study of the cumulative impact of a string of projects along the East Coast. The review comes in response to concerns from fishermen about the impact of offshore wind development on East Coast fisheries. Must watch video! >click to read< 17:15
