New England wind power boosted by Biden’s push for offshore energy
Wind turbines for two projects will be assembled in Bridgeport, New London
President Joe Biden’s push to expand wind farms off the East Coast is generating optimism in the wind energy industry as it develops off-shore sites in New England.
The U.S. departments of Energy, Interior and Commerce announced Monday a goal to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030 that would generate enough electricity to power over 10 million American homes, and avoid 78 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
Two shoreline cities — New London and Bridgeport — will serve as bases for assembling massive turbines for wind farms off New England.
Orsted, a Danish wind energy company, and Eversource Energy, are jointly developing an offshore wind farm to provide electricity to Connecticut, New York and Rhode Island. Orsted is developing a site for New Jersey.
“It’s difficult to overstate the importance of the alignment of federal, state and local policy,” said Matthew Morrissey, head of U.S. Markets and Strategy at Orsted.
Energy poli c y is frequently complicated by numerous standards defining what qualifies for permits, he said.
“In the U.S., we’ve had a particularly ambiguous permit timeline because of the hesitancy of the Trump administration,” Morrissey said.
A shift to setting specific wind project priorities outlined by numerous cabinet secretaries “gives anyone ... a lot of optimism. It’s never happened before in the U.S.,” he said.
Beyond optimism, however, are policies announced by the Biden administration of so-called “notices of intent” for 10 wind power projects that Michael Ausere, vice president of renewable energy business development at Eversource said “gets the clock running for review.”
Approval had been “held up for a good, long period. These are the tangible impacts of what was announced yesterday,” Morrissey said.
The projects, which include an Orsted offshore site for New Jersey, represent a substantial portion of offshore wind initiatives, he said. Another project among the 10 is Revolution Wind, a joint Orsted-Eversource site.
The Biden administration also is making available $3 billion in loans to support offshore wind.
Eversource and Orsted announced the Revolution Wind project would be operating bytheendof2023, but Eversource Chief Executive Officer James Judge told industry analysts Feb. 17 the start will likely be in the mid-2020s, acknowledging “some slippage there.”
Revolution Wind calls for assembling wind turbines at the State Pier in New London, which is expected to boost business for area manufacturers.
Another project, Vineyard Wind of New Bedford, Massachusetts, will provide 804 megawatts, sufficient to power 400,000 homes and representing 14% of the state’s electricity supply. It’s expectedtobeonlinein2025. It will use Bridgeport as a base to build out the project.
Vineyard Wind’s chief executive officer, Lars T. Pedersen, said Biden’s approach will help wind power backers “move quickly toward the goal of unlocking a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create a new industry.” He was not specific about how the administration’s plan benefits the Vineyard Wind project.
Power purchase agreements with Connecticut’s two dominant utilities, Eversource and United Illuminating, are already in hand, a Vineyard Wind spokesman said.
To reach the Biden administration’s goal of generating 30 gigawatts of offshore wind, the Department of Energy will try to ease access to as much as $3 billion in loan guarantees for offshore wind and transmission developers, suppliers and other financing partners to scale the U.S. offshore industry.