1 2021 Offshore Wind – East Coast Projects 1
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2021 Offshore Wind – East Coast Projects By John Benson January 2021 1. Introduction This is the first post of a 2-part paper and only covers the subtitle subject. The second post will cover everything else, including west coast activity, a new inter-government organization and new turbine developments. Although these are basically both completed, there will be two weeks between this post and part 2, as these originally started out as a single post (but was way too long), and I have committed to post another paper on 1/26. The last posts with the same subject as this was and last May. This is described and linked below. A Wet & Windy Post: This post focuses on updates for U.S. East Coast off-shore wind projects, and any advancements in products from turbine vendors that supply these to the aforementioned projects. https://energycentral.com/c/cp/wet-windy-post Although there has been some progress on the East Coast, most projects have slowed to a crawl – partially due to the Pandemic, but mostly due to delays by the outgoing administration. The former is being mitigated by the vaccines, and the latter will be toast after tomorrow (on Jan 20 and this paper is scheduled for posting on Jan 19). Also the new administration is likely to quickly accelerate the deployment of these projects due five reasons: the COVID-19 Vaccines, climate change mitigation, jobs, jobs, and jobs. 2. East Coast Each of the subsections below will deal with a single project or a series of stages for a large single project. I found one new project covered in the first subsection below. Although it was in progress in May when A Wet & Windy Post was published, its completion date is just listed as “by the mid-2020s”, so there may not have been many details at that time. 2.1. Mayflower Wind, Massachusetts From the developer’ site referenced here:1 In December 2018, Mayflower Wind was awarded the federal offshore lease area OCS-A-0521, which is located over 30 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard and 20 miles south of Nantucket. The lease area has the potential to generate over 1,600 megawatts (MW) of low-cost clean energy, or enough to power over half a million homes. Mayflower Wind executed a 20-year power purchase agreement in January 2020 for 804 MW with the Massachusetts electric distribution companies, after successful selection 1 https://mayflowerwind.com/ 1 under the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Section 83C II solicitation. We expect to deliver clean energy from the project by the mid-2020s. From the source referenced here:2 The Baker-Polito Administration today announced the signing of lease agreements with Vineyard Wind and Mayflower Wind to utilize the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal as the primary staging and deployment base for the construction and installation of their offshore wind projects located in federal waters south of Martha’s Vineyard. These lease agreements commit the facility to full-time offshore wind work from 2023 into 2027 and are worth more than $32.5 million… According to a 2018 assessment conducted for MassCEC on the workforce needs and economic impact of the emerging offshore wind industry, the deployment of 1,600 MW of offshore wind is estimated to support between 2,000 to 3,000 of direct job years over next 10 years and generate a total economic impact in Massachusetts of between $1.4 billion to $2.1 billion… From this source:3 The Dutch firm Ventolines has signed on as offshore wind expertise partner for Mayflower Wind, a huge offshore wind project starting 30 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, and has opened its first permanent U.S. office in Boston. Windpower Engineering & Development (this source) connected with Thibaut de Groen, Ventolines’ director of contracting and construction, and Lorry Wagner, the firm’s new U.S. representative, to learn more about the company’s U.S. offshore plans. What project aspects will Ventolines be performing for Mayflower Wind? For Mayflower, Ventolines will provide T&I (transport and installation) expertise on the electrical offshore substation, the wind turbine foundations, the electrical cables to collect the energy and get it to shore, and the wind turbines themselves. Shell and Ocean Winds staff are in management positions – we are supporting them on technical matters… Mayflower Wind (is) a joint venture of Shell New Energies and Ocean Winds (the global offshore wind collaboration between EDP Renewables and ENGIE)… I was unable to define what turbine they will be using, but one of the two project developers (Ocean Winds) has indicated that GE Haliade-X Turbines are their “turbines of choice” presently for their New Jersey Project (see below). I also reviewed their filed project plan, and although they redacted most of the section on turbines, I did see the MW output range per turbine and probable time of the turbine deliveries, and this was consistent with the Haliade-X (see section Error! Reference source not found.). 2 mass.gov, news, “Baker-Polito Administration Announces Agreements with Vineyard Wind and Mayflower Wind for New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal”, Aug 20, 2020, https://www.mass.gov/news/baker-polito-administration-announces-agreements-with-vineyard-wind-and- mayflower-wind-for-new 3 Windpower Engineering & Development, “U.S. offshore wind Q&A with Ventolines”, Dec 16. 2020, https://www.windpowerengineering.com/u-s-offshore-wind-qa-with-ventolines/ 2 2.2. Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind This project has made some progress. Dominion Energy on Dec. 18 revealed it had filed a required Construction and Operations Plan (COP) to build the 2.6-GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) commercial project with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). 4 The COP for the project includes information about the construction, operations, and conceptual decommissioning plans for the offshore wind farm, which Dominion has proposed to install within a 2013-obtained 112,800-acre commercial lease area located 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach. The COP says that while approval by the State Corporation Commission is still pending, the CVOW commercial project is on track to commence construction in 2024 and be completed in 2026. BOEM will now review the COP and if it deems it “complete and sufficient,” and finds that the project meets environmental and technical reviews, Dominion will submit design and implementation plans. Installation of the turbines can then begin. Company documents show Dominion expects BOEM’s review could take up to two years. Pilot project: Dominion’s proposed CVOW project expands on knowledge gained from a 12-MW CVOW pilot, which is located adjacent to the commercial lease area. The pilot features two Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) 6-MW SWT-6.0-154 wind turbines whose installation was completed by August 2020. “The two turbines are operational while the project undergoes BOEM’s technical review before officially entering service,” Dominion said on Friday (12/18). I believe, as indicated in the prior post last May, SGRE is still the conditionally selected turbine supplier for the main (2.6 GW) project. From this source.5 Offshore wind is a complex and enormous capital construction domain. Among other requirements, specific ships — jack ships that extends legs to the sea floor and jacks up above the sea for a stable construction platform — are required for the actual putting together of the massive wind turbines at sea. To date, there is no U.S. flagged jack ship that can support construction. The limited projects to date, such as Dominion’s two-turbine project that begin operations earlier this year, have used leased European ships. Due to U.S. law, specifically the Jones Act, using non-U.S.- constructed and crewed ships greatly complicates and constrains U.S. offshore wind construction. Dominion, with its accelerating path toward a massive 2.6-gigawatt wind farm off the Virginia coast, announced today that it is investing $600 million to address this bottleneck. In a press conference earlier today that featured Governor Ralph Northam, Senator Mark Warner, and Dominion’s CEO Robert Blue, Dominion Energy announced the keel laying of the first Jones Act-compliant offshore wind turbine installation vessel. Being 4 Sonal Patel, Power, “Dominion Kicks Off 2.6-GW Virginia Project”, Dec 22, 2020, https://www.powermag.com/power-offshore-wind-notebook-ge-boosts-haliade-x-to-14-gw-dominion- kicks-off-2-6-gw-virginia-project-vestas-absorbs-mhi-vestas/ 5 A Siegel, Blue Virginia, “Dominion Takes Step in Establishing Offshore Wind Industry: Contracts for Construction/Services Ship”, Dec 16, 2020, https://bluevirginia.us/2020/12/dominion-takes-step-in- establishing-offshore-wind-industry-contracts-for-construction-services-ship 3 built by shipbuilding firm Keppel AmFELS shipbuilders in Brownsville, Texas, this ship should enter service in 2023. “Today marks a critical step forward in the development of the offshore wind industry in Virginia and across the East Coast.” Senator Warner continued, “The construction of the first Jones Act compliant offshore wind turbine installation vessel serves as another vital link in the growing domestic manufacturing supply chain to support offshore wind energy development here in the U.S. This vessel will enable the timely construction of planned offshore wind development projects throughout the East Coast, including the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind commercial project.” The ship will be based in the Hampton Roads area, potentially with other to be constructed offshore wind support ships and vessels, and serve offshore wind projects along the Atlantic seaboard. Dominion Energy will own and operate the ship to lease it out for offshore wind projects — including to Dominion Energy Virginia. The good news is that the technology used for jack ships is very similar to technology used for drill ships and jack-up rigs which have been manufactured in large volumes in the U.S.