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.
Archive for the ‘Wind Energy’ Category
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 »
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.”
Congressman Van Drew on offshore wind Executive Order
Posted in energy policy, Offshore Wind, tagged Atlantic wind, Jeff Van Drew, Offshore Wind, pause, wind program review on January 14, 2025| Leave a Comment »
This confirms the second-hand information previously posted. The discussions and debate during the wind program review should be lively!
Nantucket’s “Hail Mary” falls incomplete
Posted in energy policy, Offshore Wind, tagged Ack for Whales, Hail Mary, Jayden Daniels, Nantucket, SCOTUS, Vineyard Wind on January 14, 2025| Leave a Comment »
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the challenge of the Vineyard Wind project brought by the Nantucket-based nonprofit ACK For Whales. This is not surprising given that the odds of the SCOTUS hearing the case were extremely low, tantamount to the completion of a “Hail Mary” pass.
Perhaps Nantucket should have added Jayden Daniels to their team! 😉
Although the SCOTUS declined to hear their challenge, the Nantucket group may still achieve their objective, at least in part, given the looming changes in Federal policy and the financial and operational challenges facing the offshore wind industry.
Wind turbine incident data updated through 2024
Posted in accidents, energy policy, Offshore Wind, UK, tagged 2024 update, Scotland Against Spin, wind incidents, worldwide data on January 10, 2025| 1 Comment »
Given the absence of industry and government data on wind turbine incidents, Scotland Against Spin (SAS) has done yeoman’s work in filling the void. SAS gathers information from press reports and official releases. A PDF of the latest SAS update summary (through 2024) is attached. You can view their complete incident compilation (324 pages) here. Kudos to SAS for their diligence.
Be sure to see the introductory text at the top of the attached table. Some key points:
- The table includes all documented cases of wind turbine incidents which could be found and confirmed through press reports or official information releases.
- SAS believes that this compendium of accident information may be the most comprehensive available anywhere.
- SAS believes their table is only the “tip of the iceberg” in terms of numbers of accidents and their frequency:
- On 11 March 2011 the Daily Telegraph reported that RenewableUK confirmed that there had been 1500 wind turbine incidents in the UK alone in the previous 5 years.
- In July 2019 EnergyVoice and the Press and Journal reported a total of 81 cases where workers had been injured on the UK’s windfarms since 2014. SAS data includes only 15 of these (<19%).
- In February 2021, the industry publication Wind Power Engineering and Development admitted to 865 offshore accidents during 2019. SAS data include only 4 of these (<0.5%).
- SAS includes other examples supporting their “tip of the iceberg” claim.
Although SAS is committed to reforming the Scottish government’s wind energy policy, their incident data summaries are credible. It’s disappointing that the wind industry is unwilling to publish comprehensive incident data that would help protect lives and the environment, and improve the performance of all participants.
Encouraging New Year’s energy news: the world’s first commercial nuclear fusion plant is coming to Virginia
Posted in climate, decommissioning, energy, Wind Energy, tagged Commonwealth Fusion, Dominion Energy, nuclear fusion, Offshore Wind, superseding wind and solar, Virginia, Youngkin on January 3, 2025| Leave a Comment »
- Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) will independently finance, build, own, and operate a grid-scale fusion power plant in Chesterfield County, Virginia.
- Dominion Energy will provide non-financial collaboration, including development and technical expertise as well as leasing rights for the proposed site.
- This pioneering plant will generate 400 MW of continuous energy on 25 acres (total site is 100 acres). By comparison, Dominion Energy’s offshore wind project, which will include 176 turbines and 3 offshore substations, will intermittently produce (on average) 1092 MW (2600 MW x 0.42 capacity factor).
- Gov. Youngkin emphasized that the project will be financed entirely by CFS, with no costs passed on to Dominion Energy ratepayers. (Good news for us Dominion Energy customers! 😀)
Why BOE, and most everyone else, likes nuclear fusion:
- Clean and sustainable power source.
- Unlike traditional nuclear power plants that rely on fission, fusion replicates the energy-producing process of the sun.
- Modest space requirements.
- Generates four times more energy per kilogram of fuel than fission and nearly four million times more energy than burning oil or coal.
- No radioactive waste
- Safe energy source; no risk of a meltdown event
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission has determined that fusion technology, unlike fission, does not require a federal license.
Tempering the optimism a bit, the plant won’t be operational until the early 2030’s. As we all know, there could (will likely) be delays. CFS is currently building a demonstration plant in Massachusetts that will use their SPARC “tokamok” technology.
The implications of advanced nuclear technology, not only the holy grail of fusion energy, but also modular fission reactors, for intermittent wind and solar power are substantial. Ultradeep geothermal is on a similar timeframe, and could also supersede wind and solar.
The logic behind costly offshore wind projects is therefore questionable, and the regulators better make sure that the decommissioning of these facilities is fully funded. The most likely long-term scenario is for natural gas to continue meeting most power generation needs as the nuclear and ultradeep geothermal alternatives are phased in.
More about fusion. Most of you can start at Level 3. 😉
ACK for Whales response in support of their petition to the Supreme Court
Posted in energy policy, Offshore Wind, tagged Ack for Whales, endangered species, Nantucket, Supreme Court on December 30, 2024| Leave a Comment »
The response by the Nantucket group’s attorneys is attached. Key excerpt:
“NMFS absurdly argues that agency officials, in preparing a biological opinion for a project, must ignore information about impacts on endangered species from other offshore wind turbine projects that are planned and in various stages of development and governmental review. Perhaps even more bizarrely, NMFS contends that, in preparing a biological opinion for a project, it must consider the cumulative impacts of planned state and local projects but ignore the impacts of planned federal projects.“
Background:
Forbes: “Hidden Costs, Rusting Relics: Decommissioning Wind Turbines In The US”
Posted in decommissioning, energy policy, Offshore Wind, Wind Energy, tagged BOEM, financial assurance, Forbes, increased taxpayer risks, wind decommissioning on December 26, 2024| 1 Comment »
Forbes: “As is often the case when new technologies come to market, unintended downstream consequences are not always immediately obvious to the players. Enthusiasm for clean energy initially pushed the first wind turbines into existence in the U.S. without considering the environmental and monetary costs that would be involved in either upgrading or bringing projects to a close later in their life cycle. “
Similarly, BOEM’s enthusiasm for offshore wind projects has increased decommissioning financial assurance risks for power customers and taxpayers. Their “Rule to Streamline and Modernize Offshore Renewable Energy Development” is intended to “make offshore renewable energy development more efficient, [and] save billions of dollars.” The savings associated with relaxed financial assurance requirements come at the expense of transferring decommissioning risks to those who have received little or no financial benefit from the projects.
Related story: “Osage Tribe Wins Again, Federal Judge Orders “Ejectment” Of 84 Wind Turbines By Next December”
Offshore Wind Executive Order?
Posted in energy policy, Offshore Wind, tagged Executive Order, Jeff Van Drew, Offshore Wind, pause in construction on December 24, 2024| Leave a Comment »
From the Protect Our Coast – NJ Facebook page:
From the Protect Our Coast – NJ Facebook page: “During his interview with Radio Host Dom Giordano on Monday, December 23, NJ Congressman Jeff VanDrew (pictured), stated an executive order, to be signed by President Trump on January 20, 2025 will place a 6 months pause on further construction of Offshore Wind Turbines while our new administration reviews all aspects of these highly controversial structures in our ocean.“
We’ll see what transpires, and if this post is accurate, await clarification and reactions.
Federal response to Nantucket group’s Supreme Court petition
Posted in energy policy, Offshore Wind, tagged Ack for Whales, Dept. of Justice, endangered species, RIght Whale, Supreme Court on December 23, 2024| Leave a Comment »
The Dept. of Justice (DOJ) has responded (attached) to the ACK for Whales petition (ACK is the FAA abbreviation for Nantucket) to the Supreme Court to review the First Circuit’s ruling on the Vineyard Wind project. (Also see the amicus brief filed by the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head).
The question before the Supreme Court:
Excerpt from the DOJ filing:
(In light of Vineyard Wind’s performance to date, one could also argue that the Right whale is jeopardized by the Vineyard Wind project alone.)
Keep in mind that the Federal govt wanted to block all oil and gas leasing in a huge swath of the Gulf of Mexico because of far more speculative concerns about potential impacts to Rice’s whales.
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 