POWER May 2020 - 23

WIND ENERGY
pecially in the U.S. [with its regulated
and deregulated structure], renewables
need to compete with other energy
sources in terms of cost, and in the
early years, wind power was one of
the more expensive sources out there.
Countries like Germany offered quite a
bit in terms of incentives, which made
offshore wind projects viable. Now,
wind power has achieved more of a
parity with other sources, where it can
compete on a more level playing field in
terms of cost. We're also seeing heightened
focus and more local incentives
now in the U.S. to make these projects
more attractive to develop from an economic
standpoint, notwithstanding the
obvious environmental benefits. "
Said Miller: " European countries, specifically
the UK, Germany, and increasingly
Denmark, have committed to direct
policy support seeking to commercialize
offshore wind technologies. Policy support
has included national utility level
feed in tariffs (FITs), which require utilities
to buy power from select technologies
or pay penalties; capacity auctions
limited to offers from offshore wind; or
price support through auctioned contracts
for differences payments, which
insure a stable payment level over the
period of the power purchase. "
Miller acknowledged that policy support
has not been perfect in Europe.
" Questions about the cost of FIT programs
and long-term fixed payments
agreed [to] in the early 2010s have led
to changes in policy programs and a
pass-through of final billing burdens on
European consumers. What this policy
support has done, however, is to begin
the process of commercializing a new
technology, building the logistic and
manufacturing base need for cost-effective
installation, and driving down total
production cost curves through economies
of scale, " he said.
Billions in Economic Impact
The " U.S. Offshore Wind Power Economic
Impact Assessment, " published
in March by the American Wind Energy
Association (AWEA), estimates that " developing
30,000 MW of offshore wind
along the East Coast could support up to
83,000 jobs and deliver $25 billion in annual
economic output by 2030. "
" Offshore wind is key to the future of
clean energy development in the U.S.
and will add to a thriving wind power industry
that already represents the largest
source of renewable energy in the
country, " said AWEA CEO Tom Kiernan
May 2020 | POWER
2. The Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project was the first U.S. offshore wind project approved
by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. It is expected to begin service this year. Courtesy:
Dominion Energy
in a news release about the report. " The
offshore wind industry will create tens of
thousands of jobs and provide billions of
dollars to the economy, while delivering
on its enormous untapped potential to
power major population centers up and
down the East Coast. "
According to the report, AWEA " anticipates
20,000 to 30,000 MW of offshore
wind capacity will be operational by
2030, " and could bring investment of $57
billion. The report estimates that developing
that amount of offshore wind generation
capacity " will support up to 45,000
jobs by 2025 and 83,000 jobs by 2030. "
That growth likely hinges on government
support and a better structure for
permitting. As an example, the Trump
administration through the BOEM now
expects to issue a record of decision on
the Vineyard Wind project in December
of this year, revised from the original
date of August 2019, and three years after
the developers submitted their original
construction and operations plan to
the agency.
Walter Cruickshank, deputy director
of the BOEM, speaking at an offshore
wind conference in Galveston,
Texas, in February, acknowledged the
permitting process for Vineyard Wind
has been problematic. Cruickshank
said after the BOEM issued a draft environmental
impact statement (EIS) for
Vineyard Wind, the East Coast market
became " very competitive, " with several
more projects proposed.
www.powermag.com
" It became clear to us that we had
not considered the full range of environmental
impacts in the draft EIS, " Cruikshank
told the Texas audience. That
included possible impacts to regional
fishing and resulted in the BOEM calling
for a new supplemental draft EIS.
Vineyard Wind, located about 15 miles
south of Martha's Vineyard and featuring
84 MHI Vestas 9.5-MW turbines spaced
about 0.8 miles apart, is now expected
to come online in 2023.
In the meantime, other smaller projects
move forward. The Coastal Virginia
Offshore Wind project (Figure 2), which a
few years ago was the first offshore wind
project approved by the BOEM, could
begin service this summer. The project,
part of Dominion Energy's commitment
to have 3,000 MW of solar and wind energy
under development or in operation
by the start of 2022, features two 6-MW
Siemens Gamesa wind turbines and is
located about 27 miles off the coast of
Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts,
New Jersey, New York, and Virginia
have targets to procure a total of
25,400 MW of offshore wind generation
capacity before 2035. " State leaders are
seeing the environmental and economic
promise of offshore wind and are stepping
in to provide the vision and policies
to help this industry quickly achieve
scale, " said Kiernan.
And Spain's Iberdrola, which controls
Avangrid in the U.S., in late March an23

http://www.powermag.com

POWER May 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of POWER May 2020