Posted in Norway, Offshore Energy - General, Offshore Wind, tagged Atlas Wind, California offshore wind sale, Central Atlantic Wind, Empire Wind, Equinor, Equinor changes emphasis, Orsted on May 1, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Equinor has cut planned investments in renewable energy by roughly EUR 3.5bn for 2026–2027, while the company maintains and expects growth in oil and gas production.
Cheap shot from panicked Ørsted investor:
“From a sustainability perspective, it’s certainly sad that one of the most ‘green’ fossil fuel companies now turns out to have merely been a ‘tourist’ in the green sector, but unfortunately, that’s just the way things are these days,” says Anders Schelde, investment chief at AkademikerPension, according to Finans.
Perhaps the premium for climate virtue signaling has shrunk, and Equinor, like other energy giants, is making a prudent business decision for its shareholders, which include the Norwegian govt.
Meanwhile, what are the implications for Equinor’s offshore wind investments in the US? Equinor’s embattled Empire Wind project is probably too far along to reverse course. Their Central Atlantic (Lease 0557) and California (Lease 0563, Atlas Wind) may be a different story. However, buyback negotiations would be complicated by the Empire Wind situation, and perhaps by the Norwegian government’s 2/3 ownership. On the other hand, Equinor is a significant oil and gas leaseholder in the Gulf of America, so they would have ample options for investing wind lease rebates.
Posted in energy policy, Offshore Wind, tagged BlackRock, Bluepoint Wind, buyback, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, floating turbines, Golden State Wind, US Dept. of the Interior, win-win agreements, wind leases on April 29, 2026| Leave a Comment »
The Dept. of the Interior (DOI) has announced wind lease buyback agreements with Bluepoint Wind and Golden State Wind.
These are mutually beneficial “Win-Win” agreements. Bluepoint and Golden State benefit by escaping bad business decisions:
The Administration also benefits:
Question: Are the partners and parent companies also precluded from investing in offshore wind projects or just the Bluepoint Wind and Golden State Wind entities? If BlackRock, EDP, and Engie can no longer make such investments, that is a big deal. This is especially true given the agreement with Total, Vineyard Wind’s problems, Orsted’s financial challenges, BP and Shell’s apparent exit from the US offshore wind market, and Equinor’s reduced renewable energy ambitions.
Finally, a December 7, 2022 release by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board heralding the 50% partnership in Golden State Wind might be of interest to our Canadian readers. That bad investment can now be removed from the books.
Posted in energy policy, Offshore Wind, tagged Constance Gee, litigation, Vineyard Wind, wind farm graveyard on April 18, 2026| 2 Comments »
The Constance Gee letter (pasted below) is entertaining no matter where you stand on the Vineyard Wind debacle. A couple of quotes 😉:
It’s been a mess from the beginning and in a mess it will end, but the current “he said she said” over who owes more millions to whom is especially trashy.
Poor Vineyard Wind doesn’t have a clue how to service and maintain the 62 turbines they’ve hammered into the seabed 15 miles off our coast, and they are upset that GE Renewables won’t hand over the troubleshooting manual.
The Vineyard Wind Court filing is accessible here.
Posted in accidents, Offshore Wind, Regulation, tagged blade defects, BOEM, BSEE, CVA, DNV, Dr. Edgar Gunter, fabrication, GE Vernova, investigation report, litigation, regulatory fragmentation, Vineyard Wind, waivers on April 15, 2026| 1 Comment »
Excerpt from p.3 of Vineyard Wind’s suit against GE Renewables (attached):
“As was widely reported in national and local news, in July 2024, one of the GER offshore blades collapsed and fell into the waters off Nantucket, necessitating a massive environmental cleanup, and a six-month construction hiatus during which GER performed a “root cause” analysis. That analysis concluded that 68 of the 72 GER blades installed at the Project (nearly all manufactured by GER in Gaspé, Canada) were also defective because they were inadequately bonded together, and were so poorly made that they were beyond repair. GER’s remediation plan required it to remove all of the blades and to replace all Gaspé blades with others manufactured at a different facility in Cherbourg, France.
Regulatory issues of concern:
Posted in decommissioning, energy policy, Offshore Wind, Regulation, tagged BOEM, decommissioning, financial assurance, GE Vernova, litigation, Vineyard Wind on April 11, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Yet another chapter in the Vineyard Wind saga:
New Bedford Light: Vineyard Wind on Wednesday sued its turbine supplier, GE Renewables, in civil court in Boston, alleging GE is breaching its contract and planning to abandon the project by April 28 — during the critical final stage of coming fully online.
According to the complaint, GE filed a termination notice with Vineyard Wind in late February for its contracts to supply wind turbines and service and maintain them, citing more than $300 million in claims unpaid by Vineyard Wind.
If GE exits, Vineyard Wind says, the project “will likely fail, leaving the windfarm stranded.”
The New Bedford Light provides more details on the litigation.
Remember, BOEM waived the “pay as you build” decommissioning financial assurance requirement for Vineyard Wind and subsequently relaxed financial assurance requirements for all offshore wind projects.
Posted in energy policy, Offshore Wind, Regulation, tagged Aquinnah Wampanoag, Frank Wamsutta James, Green Oceans, law suit, Narragansett Tribe, Sunrise Wind on April 9, 2026| 1 Comment »
My wife has native American (Micmac) heritage. Her family has deep respect for the Wampanoag tribe, in part because of their friendship with Aquinnah Wampanoag elder and activist Frank B. (Wamsutta) James.
Frank rescued my father-in-law after a car crash on Cape Cod and was a close friend for the rest of his life. Frank and my father-in-law, who headed the Art Dept. at Barnstable H.S., had common interests in art and history. Frank was also a talented musician, and was my wife’s music teacher at Eastham Elementary School on the Outer Cape.
Frank fought for the rights of Native Americans long before it was fashionable. In 1970, the speech be wrote to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the arrival of the Mayflower was never delivered, because it was deemed to be inflammatory. In his draft remarks, Frank succinctly summarized the tribe’s recent history:
“Although time has drained our culture, and our language is almost extinct, we the Wampanoags still walk the lands of Massachusetts…. Our spirit refuses to die.”
This spirit is evident in their opposition to wind projects that impact their historic and cultural homeland.
If Frank was alive today, he would no doubt be tirelessly supporting the preservation efforts of the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe. Most recently, the tribe joined the Narragansett Tribe, Green Oceans, commercial fishermen, and others in a suit challenging federal approvals for the Sunrise Wind project. Green Ocean’s press release is attached.
Posted in energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, Offshore Wind, tagged $1 billion, Attentive, Carolina Long Bay, Doug Burgum, leases terminated, LNG, New York Bight, Offshore Wind, Total on March 24, 2026| 1 Comment »
Per the Dept. of the Interior:
Comments:
Posted in accidents, Offshore Wind, Wind Energy, tagged incident details, public not informed, Sweden, turbine blade failure, Vineyard Wind on March 17, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Posted in accidents, energy policy, Offshore Wind, Regulation, tagged blade failure, CVA, debris, installation, investigation report, last blade, quality control, Vineyard Wind on March 16, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Vineyard Wind has finished installing turbine blades at their 62 turbine (186 blades) project. Yet the Federal investigation report on the July 2024 blade failure has still not been published. How is this acceptable?
The primary purpose of the independent investigation is to prevent recurrences at this or other projects in the US and worldwide. Available data suggest that blade failures are far too common.
Nearly two years have now elapsed since the Vineyard Wind blade failure. Important questions remain about the failure mechanisms, the manufacturing, testing, and quality control, a fabrication report waiver, the role of the CVA, debris recovery, and environmental impacts. Where is the investigation report?
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 