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Archive for the ‘Offshore Wind’ Category

Vineyard Wind delinquent in making rent payments

Posted in decommissioning, energy policy, Offshore Wind, tagged , , , , on June 18, 2026| Leave a Comment »

John Hancock Tower (pictured) is now named for its address, 200 Clarendon St

In the attached complaint, BP Hancock LLC alleges Vineyard Offshore, a Vineyard Wind parent company, is delinquent in paying rent for its space in the famous John Hancock Tower (now known as 200 Clarendon Street) in Boston.

Vineyard Wind had leased 28,370 square feet of space, constituting the entire eighteenth floor of the tower.

Per the complaint:

  1. As of the date of this Complaint, Tenant owes Landlord $824,338.99 in Rent, Additional Rent, and late fees.
  2. Furthermore, Tenant remains obligated to replenish the Security Deposit in the full amount of $386,810.00 as provided under Section 16.26 of the Lease.

As many of you know, Vineyard Wind is engaged in an ugly dispute with its primary contractor, GE Vernova, which was ordered to continue work on the project even though Vineyard Wind stopped making payments.

Particularly troubling from an OCS policy perspective, 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.

vo-hancock-1-8Download

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Four more wind leases gone!

Posted in energy policy, Offshore Wind, tagged , , , , , , , on June 17, 2026| Leave a Comment »

WASHINGTON – Today, the Department of the Interior announced a settlement agreement with affiliates of Invenergy, North America’s largest privately held developer, owner, and operator of independent power infrastructure, aimed at strengthening American security and lowering costs, advancing goals central to President Donald Trump’s Energy Dominance Agenda.

As part of the settlement agreement, Invenergy will voluntarily terminate its affiliates’ four offshore wind leases located in the New York Bight, Central Coast of California and the Gulf of Maine totaling $765 million, and redirect that amount towards other domestic energy sources with the demonstrated capability to deliver reliable, affordable power, including the development of natural gas-fired power plants in Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri and geothermal power generation projects in the Western U.S.

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The fraud allegations against GE Vernova are serious, but Vineyard Wind bears ultimate responsibility for the project

Posted in accidents, Offshore Wind, Regulation, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on June 8, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Jennette Barnes/CAI

Pointing to the potential financial implications for GE Vernova, Recharge News cites this serious fraud accusation by Vineyard Wind (VW):

“This exceptional misconduct includes [GE Vernova’s] intentional scheme to falsify critical quality assurance data… and to intentionally misrepresent the quality of those blades to [Vineyard Wind] in a brazen fraudulent, and willful breach of the TSA, ultimately resulting in the catastrophic blade failure…”

Recharge also discusses the findings of the Project Engineer appointed by VW to resolve claims between parties. Under the terms of the contract, the engineer’s determinations are binding unless overturned in arbitration.

  • The engineer determined that GE Vernova was liable for project delays, blade defects, vessel costs, and a $185m rescission of previously certified payments.
  • The damage claims issued by the project engineer total $853m.
  • On the basis of those determinations, VW withheld 100% of the outstanding invoices issued by GE Vernova. Even netted against sums allegedly owed to GE Vernova, VW says the turbine maker owes around $545m.
  • Per the contract, there are no limitations on liability in cases of “fraud, gross negligence, deliberate default or willful misconduct.”

My take: VW’s charges against GE Vernova will be resolved in the courts. However, VW is the lessee and operator, and is thus the party responsible to the Federal govt for project safety and environmental protection.

  • Operator responsibility is a fundamental tenet of the OCS regulatory program. As lessee/operator, VW bears ultimate responsibility for project safety and environmental protection.
  • VW is responsible for contractor selection, management, and oversight.
  • If a contractor violates a regulation, the violation notice is given to the operator. If a contractor causes pollution, the operator is responsible for the cleanup.
  • DNV, the Certified Verification Agent (CVA) hired by VW, was required to verify the design, fabrication, and installation procedures. Did they raise any issues to VW and the regulators?
  • At VW’s request, BOEM waived a Fabrication and Installation Report (FIR) requirement so the project could stay on schedule. The FIR addresses quality assurance measures, so the waiver is highly relevant and concerning.
  • Did the division of responsibilities between BOEM and BSEE weaken regulatory oversight? BOEM, ostensibly just the leasing bureau, should not have been authorized to grant departures that could affect structural integrity and operational safety.
  • It’s surprising that VW has not been cited for civil penalties resulting from the blade failure and the resulting environmental damage.
  • How can a judge prevent a contractor from stopping work for an operator that has filed serious fraud allegations against the contractor, has stopped making payments, and has, along with the Governor, declared the project to be complete?

Lastly, nearly two years after the blade failure, we are still awaiting BSEE’s investigation report.

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Judge upholds injunction ordering GE Renewables (Vernova) to continue working on Vineyard Wind project

Posted in Offshore Wind, tagged , , , , on June 2, 2026| Leave a Comment »

damaged Vineyard Wind turbine – Cape Cod Times photo

Massachusetts Judge Peter Krupp confirms that GE Rewables (GER) can’t quit now, but must continue working on the Vineyard Wind (VW) project! As we approach the 2 year anniversary of the blade failure, this ugly legal dispute among the responsible parties is another black eye for the troubled project.

Judge Krupp: In discussing irreparable harm in the April Memorandum, I found that the project “is at a critical phase,” that GER’s termination “would set the project back immeasurably and threaten VW’s financing,” that the requirements “to bring the project into commercial viability is highly dependent on GER’s capabilities, personnel and technology,” and that “[t]o pretend that VW could go out and hire one or more contractors to finish the installation and troubleshoot and modify GER’s proprietary design without GER’s specialized knowledge is fanciful.” Nothing has been brought to my attention that would alter any of these conclusions.

Project completion declarations by VW and Gov. Healey did not reflect the reality of the project (expected grandstanding, nothing to see there 😉):

Moreover, the fact that VW declared the COD (Commercial Operation Date) – or that Gov. Healey and VW’s parent commented on it – does not change the reality on the ground. It does not change the fact that the Project requires GER’s expertise and proprietary know-how to bring the turbines up to operational capacity.

The judge’s order is attached.

    vineyardwindDownload

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    GE Vernova: A Tale of Two Businesses

    Posted in natural gas, Offshore Wind, Wind Energy, tagged , , , , , , on May 22, 2026| Leave a Comment »

    Gas turbine business soars
    wind turbine business slumps

    Steve Milloy, National Center for Public Policy Research: GE Vernova is losing money on wind turbines and will continue to lose money for the foreseeable future. Wind losses are real and guided to persist at ~$400 million in 2026.

    On the other hand, GE Vernova’s gas turbine business is booming. The gas turbine backlog and slot reservations surged from 83 GW to 100 GW in Q1, with a target of at least 110 GW by year-end. There is strong demand for reliable, dispatchable power to support data centers and grid stability. This segment is a major profit driver.

    Milloy is asking GE Vernova shareholders to support the following resolution:

    RESOLVED: Shareholders request that the Board of Directors of GE Vernova Inc. publish a report within the next year—prepared at reasonable cost and omitting proprietary or competitively sensitive information—assessing the extent to which the Corporation’s sustainability goals have been authorized and maintained on the basis of net-present-value and return-on-investment calculations.

    The company’s Board of Directors has unanimously recommended that shareholders vote “AGAINST” this proposal, arguing that the Company already provides comprehensive, transparent disclosures on sustainability‑related risks, opportunities, goals, and progress.

    Meanwhile, GE Vernova remains locked up in an ugly dispute with Vineyard Wind and is still prevented by court order from exiting that project.

    We are approaching the 2 year anniversary of the GEV blade failure that rocked the offshore world.

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    Offshore wind: more buyer’s remorse for TotalEnergies; this time in Germany

    Posted in energy policy, Offshore Wind, tagged , , , , , , , on May 21, 2026| Leave a Comment »

    Total: „Vom Winde verweht“

    Perhaps the wind industry’s problems are more fundamental than those presented by US policies. Why else would TotalEnergies, the company that jumped at the chance to annul its costly romance with US offshore wind, be looking for a way out of its German commitments?

    NDR / Süddeutsche Zeitung: TotalEnergies is seeking to quit a major offshore wind energy project in Germany for which it offered to pay six billion euros in a 2023 state auction, arguing that slow grid connections and a deteriorating economic environment have triggered the decision.

    According to the reports, energy company BP, which also won a successful multi-billion euro bid in 2023, could seek a similar opt-out. After transferring its offshore wind activities into a subsidiary in 2025, the new company is said to be scaling back and ultimately planning to shut down its offices in Berlin and Hamburg.

    Does this sound familiar? The mood in Germany’s offshore wind industry and elsewhere in Europe has shifted markedly in recent years. While bidders in offshore auctions in 2023 were ready to pay billions of euros for the right to implement new projects, a subsequent auction round in 2025 failed to attract a single bid. According to offshore wind industry association BWO, the meager expansion of less than 1 GW annually since 2020 was mainly triggered by a spike in investment and capital costs.

    Revisiting some quotes published following the 2023 German wind auction:

    Environmental NGO Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH, not the best acronym in English 😉) called the result a “quantum leap” for offshore wind energy. “Wind power at sea is now so economically attractive that project developers are outbidding each other for access to marine areas,” said DUH executive director Sascha Müller-Kraenner. “The fairy tale of expensive green electricity is thus finally off the table.” (This quote didn’t age well!)

    “The sums are obscene,” an industry source, who was part of a non-successful bid, told business daily Handelsblatt. (Irrational bidding similar to what we saw during the 2022 U.S. Atlantic Wind Sale.)

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    John Smith’s comments on BOEM’s proposed revisions to decommissioning financial assurance requirements

    Posted in California, energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Offshore Wind, Regulation, tagged , , , , , , on May 5, 2026| Leave a Comment »

    The comment period for BOEM’s proposed revisions to decommissioning financial assurance requirements closes on Friday, May 8th.

    John Smith’s comments have been officially submitted to Regulations.gov, and are attached for your convenience. Nice work by John.

    My comments are being finalized and will be submitted and posted soon.

    042926 JB Smith Comments on Proposed Changes to Bonding RulesDownload

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    Ørsted investors worried about Equinor’s change in emphasis. Implications for US wind leases?

    Posted in Norway, Offshore Energy - General, Offshore Wind, tagged , , , , , , on May 1, 2026| Leave a Comment »

    Equinor’s Atlantic wind leases

    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.

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    “Win-Win” wind lease buybacks!

    Posted in energy policy, Offshore Wind, tagged , , , , , , , , on April 29, 2026| Leave a Comment »

    Bluepoint Wind Lease 0537 owned by Global Infrastructure Partners, a part of BlackRock, and Ocean Wind (Engie, France and EDP Renewables, Portugal)
    Golden State Wind Lease 0564 owned by Ocean Wind (Engie, France and EDP Renewables, Portugal) and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board

    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:

    • Bluepoint massively overpaid ($765 million) for Atlantic lease 0537 during the brief irrational exuberance era of the offshore wind program. The intense bidding was driven by the lure of subsidies, guaranteed power sales, unprecedented Federal and State promotion, peak climate activism, inattention to mounting public opposition, and irrational expectations regarding the role of offshore wind in powering the economy.
    • The value of Atlantic wind leases declined by 99.4% between 2022 and 2024, and this was before the Presidential election!
    • The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities has moved to terminate a $1 billion agreement to develop infrastructure to bring power from offshore wind farms to the grid.
    • Golden State bid $150 million for a wind lease that will require floating turbines. The 50 MW Kincardine Offshore Windfarm, which is billed as the “world’s largest floating wind farm,” experienced a £30 million loss in 2023 following a £18 million loss in 2022. Another floating wind project, Hywind Scotland, had to be taken offline for 4 months for maintenance after less than 6 years of operation. BOEM was forced to “postpone” the Oregon wind sale given the absence of bidders.
    • Significant work had not yet begun on either the Bluepoint or Golden State projects.
    • Many in Morro Bay and elsewhere along the Central Coast of California are not pleased with the attempt to “industrialize the coast.” Opposition to offshore wind projects is now well established along the Atlantic Coast.
    • Even in Europe, the value of offshore wind leases has diminished. A Dec. 2024 Danish offering received no bids. See this explanation.
    • The companies get to invest their inflated wind dollars in profitable energy projects without penalty. What prudent executive wouldn’t jump at the deal?
    • Waiting for the next Administration is not likely to improve the fundamental economics of offshore wind development, and increased subsidies are not popular.
    • A pro-wind govt would facilitate permitting, but is unlikely to buyback existing leases.

    The Administration also benefits:

    • Two more wind leases are off the books.
    • Removing one of three leases could significantly affect the economics of Central Coast (CA) wind development.
    • Agreements were necessary because it’s difficult to cancel leases, and compensation would be required. If settled in court, the compensation could easily exceed the lease purchase price.
    • The companies agreed not to pursue any new offshore wind projects in the United States.
    • The rebates will be invested in projects favored by the Administration.

    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.

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    Vineyard Wind threatens ‘wind farm graveyard’

    Posted in energy policy, Offshore Wind, tagged , , , 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.

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