(OW) The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has completed a draft environmental assessment (EA) of the potential issuance of a research lease to the State of Maine that would grant the State the exclusive right to submit plans for a twelve-turbine, 144 MW floating wind farm for BOEM’s approval. The federal agency is... Continue Reading →
Vattenfall Stops Developing Major Wind Farm Offshore UK, Will Review Entire 4.2 GW Zone
(OW) Vattenfall has stopped the development of the Norfolk Boreas offshore wind power project in the UK and will review the way forward for the entire 4.2 GW Norfolk Zone, the Swedish energy company revealed in its interim report. The developer said that the decision to stop the project was made due to ”challenging market conditions”,... Continue Reading →
US President Biden to Announce Gulf of Mexico Offshore Wind Lease Sale
US President Joe Biden will announce today the first-ever Gulf of Mexico offshore wind lease sale as part of his administration’s efforts to boost renewable energy, according to the White House. Today, the Department of the Interior (DOI) is issuing the final sale notice for the first-ever offshore wind lease sale in the Gulf of... Continue Reading →
Australian offshore wind project moves forward despite lack of licence
(OET) Flotation Energy has signed a multi-million-dollar deal to start environmental surveys in the Bass Strait region in Australia despite licences for potential offshore wind projects not being awarded until later this year. Flotation Energy signed a USD 22 million contract with RPS to commence its two-and-a-half-year programme of environmental surveys for the 1.5 GW... Continue Reading →
Avangrid Terminates Long-Fought PPAs in Massachusetts at Cost of Almost USD 50 Million
(OW) Massachusetts’s electric distribution companies Eversource Energy, National Grid and Unitil have agreed to terminate their power purchase agreements (PPAs) for the Commonwealth Wind offshore wind farm at the request of the project developer, Iberdrola-owned Avangrid, which will pay USD 48 million in penalties for the termination that is yet to be approved by the... Continue Reading →
Portugal Raises Offshore Wind Ambitions
(Reuters) Portugal has increased its ambitions for offshore wind energy and has sharply raised its target for a first auction of offshore floating windfarm licenses, Environment Minister Duarte Cordeiro told Reuters on Tuesday. Cordeiro said the sale, due to take place by the end of the year, will target a total installed capacity of between... Continue Reading →
500 MW Fécamp Offshore Wind Farm Produces First Power
(OW) The 500 MW Fécamp offshore wind farm in Normandy, France, has started producing the first electricity and feeding it into the grid after the first wind turbine was installed at the beginning of this month. Following the load-out of the first four wind turbines from the port of Cherbourg, DEME Offshore’s Innovation proceeded with the installation... Continue Reading →
Hexicon Board Rejects European Actor’s Takeover Bid, Citing Undervaluation
(OE) The board of the Swedish floating wind technology developer Hexicon has rejected a bid on the company from an unnamed "European actor." The bid, which was conditional of the board's recommendation, was set at SEK 1.5 per share, corresponding to a value of SEK 545 million (currently around $53 million) for the entire company. ... Continue Reading →
WindEurope: ‘European Governments Should Not Follow German Example of Negative Bidding’
Following the results of the latest German offshore wind auction, which went into the so-called negative bidding stage and ended up earning the State billions from the winning developers, WindEurope warned that this would be passed on to consumers and the supply chain, and called on the German government to avoid this approach in future... Continue Reading →
Germany Rakes In EUR 12.6 Billion Through ‘Dynamic Bidding’ Offshore Wind Auction
(OW) Germany’s first dynamic bidding process, covering four offshore wind zones with a combined capacity of 7 GW, has generated EUR 12.6 billion in proceeds, according to the Federal Network Agency. The bidding period for the participation in the tenders for the four areas that were not centrally pre-examined ended on 1 June. The auction... Continue Reading →