Archive for the ‘Offshore Wind’ Category
Congressman Van Drew calls out NJ Board of Public Utilities
Posted in energy policy, Offshore Wind, tagged Congressman Van Drew, NJBPU, Offshore Wind, rate increases on February 14, 2025| Leave a Comment »
WSJ blasts NJ Governor Murphy
Posted in climate, energy policy, Offshore Wind, tagged Gov. Phil Murphy, New Jersey, Offshore Wind, WSJ on February 10, 2025| Leave a Comment »
WSJ: “How many multibillion-dollar projects must go bust before a Governor comes to his senses? The answer is blowing in the wind, but New Jersey’s Phil Murphy doesn’t seem to be listening.”
Ouch!: Note how it’s always the developers that give up on these projects and never the state, despite the awful prospects for ratepayers. Gov. Murphy has treated renewable energy as a sacred cause no matter the costs since 2018. That includes a bill he signed to let Ørsted pocket federal credits it had promised to pass on to customers, though he clawed money back when the projects died.”
Offshore wind: NJ reluctantly accepts reality
Posted in energy policy, Offshore Wind, tagged Atlantic Shores, BOEM, BPU, Congressman Chris Smith, New Jersey, Offshore Wind on February 7, 2025| Leave a Comment »
- New Jersey will not provide financial backing to new offshore wind projects.
- “The NJ Board of Public Utilities will not proceed with an award in New Jersey’s fourth offshore wind solicitation,” said Christine Guhl-Sadovy, President, New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.
Not a single offshore wind turbine will be installed offshore New Jersey during the reign of Gov. Murphy, a leading proponent of offshore wind. How much did his wind advocacy cost NJ taxpayers?
Meanwhile, management of what is left of the Atlantic Shores partnership continues to deny the obvious – that there is no realistic path forward for their projects.
Finally, NJ Congressman Chris Smith is questioning any further action by BOEM on offshore wind projects. See the attached letter.
Another major setback for offshore wind as Shell exits the Atlantic Shores project
Posted in energy policy, Offshore Wind, tagged Atlantic Shores project, Equinor, irrational exuberance, Shell withdraw, US offshore wind on January 31, 2025| Leave a Comment »
The irrational exuberance that peaked at the Feb. 2022 New York Bight Wind Sale already seems like a distant memory.
In their quarterly earnings report released on Jan. 30, Shell disclosed a $996 million impairment associated with their withdraw from the controversial Atlantic Shores wind project offshore New Jersey.
Shell is no longer a participant in any US offshore wind projects. This leaves Equinor (2/3 Norwegian govt ownership) as the only major oil company pursuing US offshore wind development.
Those Atlantic states that have linked their economic future to offshore wind better be reassessing their energy strategy.
Equinor taking heat from Norwegian investors
Posted in climate, Norway, Offshore Energy - General, Offshore Wind, tagged Empire Wind, Equinor, green agenda, Norway, Offshore Wind, Orsted on January 22, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Equinor’s investment in Orsted and their Empire Wind project in the US Atlantic are featured in this DN article (translated to English). Excerpts follow:
Equinor’s investment of over 26 billion kroner in the Danish wind power company Ørsted has so far been a financial disaster – and now it’s going from bad to worse.
“We are very negative about the whole green initiative, as the return on the investments they make is far too low. When they also buy minority stakes in other green companies that we cannot count on, such as Ørsted, it means that we would rather own other oil companies.” Gaute Eie, Eika Kapitalforvaltning
The market has long been concerned that Equinor will throw money at renewable projects with low or no profitability.
In a recent note, Pareto analysts Tom Erik Kristiansen and Olav Haugerud point out that the Ørsted writedown does not bode well for Equinor’s own US projects either. They foresee a writedown of up to $1.1 billion, given that Equinor faces the same type of challenges as Ørsted.
Eie believes there is no reason why Equinor in particular should have a green initiative:
Aker BP is not doing green, Vår Energi is not doing green, and all the big oil companies are going back on this. Then we’ll see if Equinor has the guts to buy even more Ørsted shares, because now it’s 35 percent cheaper. If they do, we’ll have even fewer Equinor shares.
Sissener believes Equinor should rather focus on dividends and concentrate on oil and gas projects.
– We generally stay away from companies where the state is a major owner, because there you have to be so politically correct all the time. What we need are shareholder-friendly board representatives who know how to run a business and maintain control. In a broader perspective, this helps to destroy trust in Norwegian business.
Energy related Executive Orders
Posted in Alaska, energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Offshore Wind, Regulation, tagged Alaska, climate change, Climate Corps, energy policy, Executive Orders, Gulf of America, LNG, permitting, Regulation, Unleashing American Energy on January 21, 2025| 1 Comment »
Withdrawal from the Paris Climate Change Agreement:The US Ambassador to the UN shall immediately submit formal written notification of the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Regulatory Freeze: Agencies may not propose or issue a rule until approved by a Presidential appointee. OMB may exempt emergency or urgent rules (déjà vu for regulators 😉).
Alaska: Withdraws a Secretarial Order intended to halt ANWR oil and gas leasing. Rescinds cancellation of ANWR leases.
Gulf of America: Renaming the Gulf of Mexico.
Unleashing American Energy (long, main items highlighted below):
- Encourage energy exploration and production on Federal lands and waters, including on the Outer Continental Shelf.
- Eliminate the electric vehicle (EV) mandate.
- Requires immediate review of actions that could burden the development of energy resources.
- Develop and begin implementing action plans to suspend, revise, or rescind all unduly burdensome agency actions.
- Revoke climate change and “clean energy” EOs.
- Terminate all activities, programs, and operations associated with the American Climate Corps (RIP 😉).
- Expedite and simplify permitting processes.
- Facilitate the permitting and construction of interstate energy transportation and other critical energy infrastructure, including pipelines.
- Disband the Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases.
- Terminate the Green New Deal. All agencies must immediately pause the disbursement of funds appropriated through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (Public Law 117-169) or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law 117-58).
- The Secretary of Energy is directed to restart reviews of applications for LNG export projects as expeditiously as possible.
Offshore Wind Executive Order
Posted in energy policy, Offshore Wind, Wind Energy, tagged energy, Executive Order, Offshore Wind, renewable energy, wind, wind leasing, wind permitting, wind-power on January 20, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Title: Temporary Withdrawal of All Areas on the Outer Continental Shelf from Offshore Wind Leasing and Review of the Federal Government’s Leasing and Permitting Practices for Wind Projects
Main points:
- New leases: Immediately withdraws all OCS areas from wind leasing
- Existing leases: Secretary of the Interior shall conduct a comprehensive review of the ecological, economic, and environmental necessity of terminating or amending any existing wind energy leases, identifying any legal bases for such removal, and submit a report with recommendations to the President
- Review of Leasing and Permitting Practices: The Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Energy, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the heads of all other relevant agencies, shall not issue new or renewed approvals, rights of way, permits, leases, or loans for onshore or offshore wind projects pending the completion of a comprehensive assessment and review of Federal wind leasing and permitting practices.
Preview of “Day One” Executive Orders related to energy
Posted in climate, energy policy, Offshore Wind, pipelines, tagged Day One, energy, Executive Order, LNG, President Trump on January 20, 2025| Leave a Comment »
A senior administration official who is familiar with the executive actions and authorized to brief Fox News Digital said Trump on day one will end “Catch and Release;” pause all offshore wind leases; terminate the electric vehicle mandate; abolish the Green New Deal; withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord; and take several major steps to assert presidential control over the federal bureaucracy.
The senior official told Fox News Digital that the energy executive order deals with “every single energy policy,” and addresses liquid natural gas, ports, fracking, pipelines, permitting and more, while also terminating President Biden polices he said “have constrained U.S. energy supply.”
Interesting timing – Vineyard Wind suspension order lifted
Posted in accidents, Offshore Wind, Regulation, tagged blade failure, BSEE, Nantucket, suspension order lifted, Vineyard Wind on January 18, 2025| Leave a Comment »
The suspension order for the Vineyard Wind project was lifted on the last business day before the change in Administration and before the completion of the Federal investigation into the blade failure.
Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum’s confirmation hearing
Posted in energy policy, Offshore Energy - General, Offshore Wind, tagged confirmation hearing, Doug Burgum, Secretary of the Interior on January 17, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Burgum on offshore oil and gas lease sales: “The fact that during the current administration the lease sales have been so unpredictable and disruptive, and the fact that they’re projecting forward to have among the fewest we’ve ever had, almost would guarantee that we would see a decline in energy production in offshore in the years ahead because of the lead times.”
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 