Large storage pumped by Westminster ruling
Developers are increasingly confident of reaching final investment decisions on 2.8GW of consented pumped storage hydro schemes after the UK government announced plans to introduce a cap and floor support scheme for long duration energy storage technologies.
Those with permitted projects include Statkraft, which acquired the 450MW Red John pumped storage hydro scheme from Intelligent Land Investments in December 2023.
The scheme, located around 14km south-west of Inverness, was granted planning permission by the Scottish government in June 2021. It has also secured a grid connection “with a good timeline to a connection date”, according to Statkraft UK managing director Kevin O’Donovan.
He told reNEWS: “Our team is working very hard now to prepare the project to be one of those eligible under the criteria in the government’s recently published consultation.
“We are really excited about Red John because, subject to the consultation process being completed and the government putting in place that support, we believe this project is very well placed to use that support to make an investment decision and go into construction.”
Statkraft is targeting 2030 for Red John to become operational, which could make it the first pumped storage scheme to come onstream in the UK in 30 years.
Also vying for this title will be SSE Renewables’ Coire Glas, which has a potential capacity of up to 1500MW.
Exploratory works for the project, which received planning consent in 2020, have taken place at the Loch Lochy reservoir in the Great Glen in the Scottish Highlands.
SSE said a FID is expected to be taken in late 2025 or early 2026, allowing for main construction to start in late 2026. The project could start operating in 2032.
Meanwhile, last July Drax Group secured development consent to build an underground pumped storage project at its Cruachan facility in Argyll.
The 600MW plant will be constructed next to an existing underground facility, extending the site’s total capacity to more than 1GW.
In September, Drax awarded COWI the contract to provide advice for the geotechnical, jetty/marine structures and tunnelling elements of the development, alongside owner’s engineer Studio Pietrangeli.
Buccleuch Estates has also received consent for its Glenmuckloch 1600 megawatt-hour pumped storage hydro plant, which comprises two 105MW reversible turbines, co- located alongside a 33.6MW wind farm.
Foresight Energy Infrastructure Partners will lease the site from Buccleuch and bring the project to fruition, according to the landowner.
Meanwhile, Statera applied to the Scottish government in December for planning consent for a 600MW pumped storage hydro scheme using the existing Loch Kemp as the upper storage reservoir with Loch Ness as the lower reservoir.
The move follows extensive survey work and consultation with the local community, as well as various statutory consultees, according to the developer.
Looking further ahead, Gilkes Energy has been holding public consultations on plans for its 1800MW Earba project, which would use Loch a’Bhealaich Leamhain as the upper reservoir and Lochan na h-Earba as the lower reservoir.
Gilkes has carried out ground investigation works at the site, with a number of boreholes and trial pits being made, along with peat probing and geophysics.
SSE Renewables has also unveiled plans to convert its 152.5MW Loch Sloy hydropower scheme into a new pumped storage facility.
The site is situated between Loch Sloy and Inveruglas on the west bank of Loch Lomond.
SSE Renewables said that, subject to the final design, the Sloy scheme would be capable of delivering up to 25 gigawatt-hours of long-duration electricity storage capacity.
renews: March 2024
Engie thinks big to side-step site restrictions
Engie is looking to unleash larger-scale schemes across Belgium, according to Benelux managing director Nicolas van den Abeele. “We are looking to refocus our strategy to (larger) projects,” he said.
“The key to developing (sites) is to have them as competitive as possible and we strongly believe that the future of renewables may be fewer wind farms but bigger ones.”
This includes the 85MW Houffalize array, which Engie and Eneco secured developments rights to in
a municipal tender. However, the plans have been rejected by the government of Wallonia and are now in recourse at the Council of State.
Van den Abeele said: “It is not unseen that a project is under development for 10 years before it is built. It is the finesse of the developer to try to understand where there might be a successful outcome or where he should refocus.
“One of the things we do is ensure there is local buy-in and benefits to having green power generated locally.”
Another factor is developers cannot build wind farms on 54% of land in Flanders due to the proximity of airports, with an estimated 1GW of sites blocked by aviation constraints, including Engie’s 42MW Veurne.
However, the developer is seeing “positive signs” restrictions might be lowered. Van Den Abeele said: “The amount of zones that are no-go at the moment is huge. We believe that once constraints are lowered, we could go full speed on these.”
renews: January 2024
Permitting quagmire slows Belgian march
Permitting bottlenecks are significantly restricting the roll-out of onshore wind in Belgium.
In both the Flanders and Wallonia regions hundreds of megawatts of projects are stuck in development.
It is taking some players more than five years to secure final decisions, with at least 150MW of 600MW that entered the permit process in 2019 yet to receive adjudications, according to the Flanders Wind Energy Association (VWEA).
As a result, in 2023 Flanders installed just 66MW of new capacity, while an estimated 110MW was built in Wallonia. Projections for the coming years are tricky due to uncertainty over the pipeline as well as a fragmented approach to delivery.
VWEA director Maarten Dedeyne said: “The problem in Flanders is almost every permit has an appeal against it by individuals or lobbying groups.”
While Wallonia is a larger region and less densely populated, developers face “very well organised opponents”, said Fawaz Al-Bitar, director general at regional representative group Edora.
He explained Wallonia is especially affected by Council of State appeals from structured groups with good legal representation.
Unlike Flanders, it doesn’t have a supplementary court. “This is the reason why the Council of State is a real bottleneck for us,” Al-Bitar added.
As a result, approved projects in both regions are typically limited to between one and five turbines. For example, Aspiravi is due to finish assembling an 18MW five-unit site in early 2024 in the village of Sainte- Ode, in the southern region of Luxembourg.
The project comprises Nordex N131 hardware and is considered a large-scale scheme for the country.
French developer Engie currently has three sites about to be built with a collective capacity of 22MW. These are made up of one single turbine and two multi-machine developments.
One of these is a partnership in an eight-unit project where Engie owns two models, which the developer said is common in Belgium to make schemes more affordable.
Among the developers active is Aspiravi, which is involved in a JV with Storm to develop a 40.5MW site comprising nine machines along the interchange of the E40 and the A10 in Jabbeke and Oudenburg.
The project is currently one of many larger schemes stuck in the permitting process facing challenges with population density and nearby aviation proving the obstacles.
reNEWS: January 2024
Home players lining up to pitch at India auction
Offshore wind in India is poised to take off with the country’s first auction at the start of 2024, as it aims to develop 30GW of power by 2030.
Around 8.2GW is up for grabs in eight locations off the coast of Tamil Nadu in the south of the country, with a further site off the western state of Gujarat.
The first phase of the auctions, scheduled to take place in January, will see four seabed leases off Tamil Nadu with a combined capacity of 4.1GW available for bidding.
A further three areas off Tamil Nadu, totalling 3.1GW, have been scheduled for auction in 2024–25.
Successful bidders will have five years to commission their site, including conducting the relevant surveys. India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) said this could be extended by a year on a case-by-case basis. Post- commissioning, the project lease will be extended for its operational life.
Both these auctions will take place under the country’s “Model B” process.
In addition, bids for a project in Tamil Nadu and a scheme in Gujarat, both 500MW, will also be on the auction block at the beginning of next year, under the “Model A” process.
The latter process has the added benefit of attracting central financial assistance in the form of viability gap funding, which would provide a predetermined power tariff.
There is also a “Model C” process planned for further down the line. This will cover sites identified by the developers within the exclusive economic zone that are outside of the Model A and B areas, on which MNRE is carrying out surveys with the National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE).
MNRE launched offshore LiDAR in October 2023 off Tamil Nadu and has already identified eight development zones in this area, plus five possible sites off the coast of Gujarat.
It is not clear which developers will be in the mix in the upcoming auctions as they are keeping their cards close to their chest.
India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation has signed a memorandum of understanding with utility NTPC Green Energy Ltd to collaborate on renewable energy projects in the country, including offshore wind, but has yet to confirm its participation.
OWC consultancy head of new geographies David Wotherspoon said there are “significant Indian companies” interested.
He added: “I know that there are some international players, but not to the extent there would be normally.”
This could be due to global factors impacting the offshore wind industry and potentially the perceived risks in the Indian market.
There have been a few false dawns over the Indian auction process in the past 10 years, with previous tender dates and projects proposed, none of which came to pass.
Wotherspoon said this could have left a feeling that the Indian market is more risky than others with development opportunities.
Permitting is another area of risk with high levels of bureaucracy and multi-agency decision-making creating barriers that could delay projects.
MNRE and NIWE have done some preliminary surveys for the first sites, which should help with permitting but it is not expected to be up to international finance standards. This means developers will need to undertake additional work to be able to finance the projects, which needs to be reflected in the timelines. Also, while MNRE and NIWE have carried out some seabed groundwork, it is not enough to take projects forward to the design stage.
However, the Indian government setting out areas that it wants to be developed both in the short and long term has provided some reassurance, according to Wotherspoon.
Furthermore, as the world’s fourth-largest renewables market, there is a great deal of experience in developing projects, albeit on land to date.
To accommodate this, Indian developers are likely to partner with international offshore wind players to share knowledge and experience. All eyes are on the zones in Tamil Nadu given the more favourable conditions there. This is due to the wind speeds being higher than Gujarat, better seabed conditions and support from the Tamil Nadu government, which is actively pushing the offshore wind agenda.
There is also potential for a test centre in the state and new port infrastructure, with some private Indian companies that have taken on ports for other purposes now looking at how they can accommodate offshore wind.
Finally, there are currently informal talks taking place between India and Sri Lanka regarding a possible interconnector link between the two nations.
While first steel in the water is not expected to be until the end of the decade, offshore wind in India should have a healthy future.
Wotherspoon said: “[India has] huge potential to become a centre of excellence or a hub for Asia Pacific and the rest of the world as well, if they get it right.”
reNEWS: November 2023
Busy market days in Philippines
The removal of restrictions in its New Markets Fund, has signed 2022 on foreign ownership of a series of 25-year offshore wind renewable energy projects is opening up the Philippines market.
PetroGreen Energy and Copenhagen Energy were awarded offshore wind service contracts in 2021 by the Department of Energy, which will be executed through three special purpose vehicles.
Corio Generation aims to develop up to five projects totalling 3GW, comprising 2GW of fixed-bottom projects and 1GW of floating wind.
These would be off the coasts of Cavite, Batangas-Mindoro, Iloilo and Guimaras under wind energy service contracts that Corio says provide site exclusivity.
Meanwhile, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, through service contracts with an aggregate capacity of 2GW.
Alternergy and Shell Overseas Investment have also obtained a wind energy service contract from the Department of Energy to assess the feasibility of a site in the Calavite passage near Mindoro.
The joint venture, in which Alterenergy has a 60% holding, is carrying out the study that will eventually merit a final investment decision on the project.
Next year will see the Philippines host a Green Energy Auction, including offshore wind. The country has set a target of 35% of renewables in its energy generation mix by 2030 and 50% by 2040.
reNEWS: November 2023
Credit: Asia Chang/Unsplash
Greek investment flows
After a relatively quiet decade in terms of development, the Greek PV market looks set to take off again in the next few years.
The country is now one of the most attractive markets for corporate clean energy buyers, tied with Spain for the highest percentage of offers on the LevelTen Energy Marketplace.
Hoping to capitalise on this is KGAL’s 81MW Volos project in central Greece, due to be connected to the grid later this year, and one of two schemes that the investment and asset manager is developing with general contractor Pfalzsolar.
Their second, the 95MW Evros project in the north of Greece, is expected to be completed in 2024, after reaching financial close.
KGAL head of development Rodolphe Poublon told renews that it viewed Greece as “a familiar economic environment in a country with real needs and ambitious goals in terms
of energy transition reflected in a trustworthy regulatory framework”.
Cero Generation is also expecting to connect its 100MW Project Delfini Blue, located in the mountainous Prosotani area of the country, in 2024. This is one of the country’s first to secure a PPA. Ameresco Sunel Energy will provide EPC services.
Cero Generation country manager, Stefanos Lialios told renews: “Since 2019, Greece has been picking up speed. Cero started looking for this project in 2020. We got a PPA and financial close and a compensation scheme which Greece has not seen before, so it was quite an achievement in terms of time.
“The big thing is that the permitting process is quite straightforward, and a lot of chinks have been removed. Things are easier to do and faster.”
Also slated for 2024 is RWE’s 175MW Amynteo Cluster 1, which it is developing with PPC Renewables on the boundaries of a former open pit lignite mine in the western Macedonia region. The five PV projects are expected to come onstrean in the first quarter of next year.
Furthermore, construction work is set to start on the 259MW Amynteo Cluster 2 that the pair are developing this autumn after securing PPAs with Meton Energy. This will comprise three solar farms in the same region which are expected to be fully operational by the end of 2024.
IPP Econergy entered the Greek PV market in 2022 by forming a JV with Terna that acquired two early stage projects, with a capacity of 220MW and 240MW in the Kilkis region.
Econergy anticipates that the projects will reach ready-to-build status by the third quarter of 2023, with completion by late 2024.
Econergy country manager Efstathios Sideris told renews that it has also submitted another PV and storage project for environmental approval with the Greek authorities. In addition, the IPP is in discussions with Terna about developing other renewable projects in the country.
Lightsource BP is also actively developing a portfolio of utility-scale solar projects in Greece totalling more than 1GW, and expects to bring the 560MW Antikythera cluster to financial close in 2023. The site could stand as one of Europe’s largest utility-scale solar projects.
However, like other European nations, the development of solar projects in Greece could be held up by a lack of grid connections.
To address this, the government is going through grid submissions to determine which projects are going to come to fruition in the near future.
Sideris said: “Now we are waiting for some deadlines for investors to proceed or not to proceed with the projects that are in front of us.
“I think it will be a very big clearance in the next six to eight months. For us, we are committed and have the capabilities to finish projects.”
reNEWS: September 2023
Image: Unsplash
Italy looks for growth spurt after consent legal change
Developers in Italy are hoping permit regime could unlock substantial growth over the coming years.
The country, which has over 22GW online today, remains quiet for a nation with plenty of land and ideal conditions, as this year is again expected to see a sub-gigawatt return.
Legislative changes, signed into law in April 2022, are an attempt to make consenting easier and faster. The overhaul also identified areas immediately suitable for the installation of PV systems, such as land near to industrial sites.
SolarPower Europe predicts around 13GW could be added over the next five years if the policy regime comes good.
There is an ample supply of schemes, with 44.1GW in the permitting system, according to the Italian Solar Association.
However, planning barriers at regional and local levels still remain for developers looking to capitalise on Italy’s high irradiance levels.
One developer that has managed to successfully navigate this path is European Energy, which is hoping to commission its 40MW Tuscania project in Lazio by the end of this year.
The Danish developer has also applied for a permit for a 20MW project in Sicily, although progress has slowed due to objections from a neighbouring wine maker.
European Energy head of Italian projects Alessandro Migliorini said there was an obligation to start work in November. If the matter is resolved before then, the project could be commissioned in the second quarter of 2023.
The loosening of the permitting restrictions at a national level had helped, but there were still major hurdles at regional and local levels, according to Migliorini.
“At that time it was a very important resolution as it was making it clearer, and there was a big bottleneck.”
For example, European Energy’s 20MW Larino project is located near an industrial site in the Apulia region.
Under the new regulations it received an exemption from carrying out an environmental impact assessment, allowing the developer to go straight to the building phase and receive a permit within 30 days.
However, the municipality is challenging this, threatening to push back its planned commissioning from the third quarter of 2023.
Migliorini said: “This is still ongoing and is taking a lot of interpretation. It is very blurry in many cases.
“There is still a misalignment between the central government and the regions. There is not a holistic approach that can grant the same vision of what we have to do in terms of the 2030 target.”
Italy has set a target of generating more than 50GW of solar energy by 2030.
Helping to achieve this is investor KGAL. It has the 17MW Spalletti project under construction, which is due to be commissioned by the year end. The solar farm is currently being built by STEAG Solar Energy Solutions on a former quarry site in Emilia Romagna in the north of the country.
Next year KGAL plans to start construction on two larger projects in Lazio – both above 100MW – and then create a pipeline in Sicily of up to 700MW.
According to KGAL managing director and head of renewables Michael Ebner the local authority objected to the Lazio projects and the matter had to be resolved in court.
However, the national legislation has speeded up the permitting process. Ebner said: “We do not see those harsh obstacles from the authorities, but on the other hand it still takes time to receive relevant permits. It always takes longer than expected, and longer than originally allowed.”
Ebner added that another issue was developers being unable to meet the “huge appetite from off- takers for renewable electricity” due to a reliance on external agencies for project approval.
His German investment company plans to capitalise on the merchant market in Italy and has opted out of the Contracts for Difference process.
Italy’s energy agency Gestore dei Servizi Energetici has held three renewables auctions in the last 12 months, allocating contracts to a reported 1.1GW of solar projects.
UK renewables developer Enviromena is among those with a contract and is due to start construction on two solar projects in the Apulia region from January, which are expected to be completed in summer 2023.
The company did not disclose the size of the schemes, but Environmena’s chief executive Cabell Fisher said: “The sites form a small part of Environmena’s much larger 250MW pipeline of solar projects.”
Also due to come onstream in 2023 is solar developer BNZ’s 53MW Viterbo and CCE Holding’s 41MW Montalto di Castro scheme, both in Lazio.
In addition, Cero Generation has wrapped up project financing for two agrivoltaic projects –its 48MW Castrum PV scheme in Lazio and the 70MW Pontinia solar farm in Latina province – both of which are slated for 2023.
reNEWS: September 2022
Netherlands threads the offshore wind needle
The Netherlands government has started work to accelerate the studies and is also building roll-out of offshore wind, setting out spatial planning options for cable routes to support capacity ambitions for 21.5GW by 2030, up from an earlier 10.8GW goal.
In a letter to parliament this month, Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Dilan Yesilgoz- Zegerius explained the expansion is necessary in order to reduce carbon emissions by 55% at the end of the decade.
She wrote that, partly due to offshore wind energy and its landing interfering with other interests, there is a need for “careful spatial integration on sea and land and for strengthening ecology in the North Sea and the Wadden Sea” to achieve the additional capacity.
The North Sea to the west of the Netherlands has become increasingly congested with offshore wind projects, leading to two sites, Hollandse Kust north- west and south-west, being dropped due to concerns about impacts on fishing and shipping lanes.
As a result, the Wadden Sea has been earmarked for a potential 4.7GW of development.
However, developing this area presents major challenges both onshore and offshore, primarily concerning grid availability.
The government has created a specific programme to develop offshore wind
The government has created a specific programme to develop offshore wind in the area that includes all local stakeholders. TenneT is carrying out the preparatory studies and is also building an electrical connection at Eemshaven, one of the proposed landfall sites for a 700MW Wadden Sea project dubbed Ten noorden van de Waddeneilanden, due to be completed in 2027.
Martijn Weijers advisor in offshore development at TenneT, said there will be arguments about the impact on the environment as the area is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
“One of the reasons the government has decided to start these spatial procedures it to go a bit deeper into the best route alternative. This will be assessed on nature impact but also shipping lane safety, all those kind of aspects,” he told reNEWS.
There will also be technical challenges after TenneT was asked by the government and stakeholders to explore an alternative, eastern route to the original cable line that went underneath an island.
Overall, at least seven route alternatives are being assessed to see which is the most viable.
Weijers said: “The eastern route is more complex because it is a morphological area, which means the ground layer changes a lot over time, maybe eight metres per year in soil depth.
“When we bury the cables we would like to bury them and forget them and not have to rebury them.”
There are already three or four cables in that area so proximity agreements would be required, he added.
“At this moment with the 2030 scope we don’t have enough time to really reinforce the onshore grid. We have taken into account all the projects that are already planned up to 2030 when considering all the landing points.
“But still we need a significant amount of electrification by the industry at the landing spots.”
There are plans to connect industry at Eemshaven, where currently very little infrastructure is in place. However, Weijers said businesses would need to be sure that this electrification will take place when the cable arrives.
“We are concerned about the fact that there are very few plots located above the north of the Netherlands. We hoped to see more plots there because of the hydrogen initiatives in the north of the Netherlands,” an RWE spokesperson said.
“Our suggestion is to designate specific plots in the North Sea for the upscaling of hydrogen production.”
The province of Groningen in the north of the Netherlands traditionally supplies natural gas but production has been halted due to depleted resources and public concern following a series of earthquakes.
“It is a province that relies heavily for its economy on everything related to energy,” said Bastiaan Vader at the Netherlands Wind Energy Association.
“It is really manifesting itself as the energy province of the Netherlands and it is really ambitious when it comes to connecting to the offshore wind farms that will be installed.
“And because they have a history with natural gas, the transition towards hydrogen makes sense so that is something they want to play a large role in.”
The offshore wind areas are expected to be finalised next March but, until a permanent government in the Netherlands is formalised, no concrete timelines for auctions on the sites are expected to be set.
Vader added: “When you see the ambition of realising in total 21.5GW in 2030 and when you see what is installed at this moment, we will have to make such a giant leap in a few years.
“Also, when you realise it takes four to five years to install and realise an offshore wind farm, you have to start in 2025.
“We do not have much time to complete everything.”
reNEWS: December 2021
Hard hats on at Vineyard Wind 1
Construction has formally kicked off at the 800MW Vineyard Wind 1 project, the first utility-scale offshore wind farm in US waters.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held earlier this month in Barnstable, Massachusetts, at the site of the onshore substation that will off-take power from Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners’ €2.5bn development.
However, there is still a long way to go after years of permitting delays and many challenges to be overcome, development vehicle Vineyard Wind’s chief executive Lars Pedersen told renews.
“I think it is celebrating the halfway mark... and we will have long nights and plenty of them before we are done on this project. There is a lot of work again.”
There may also be some sleepless nights, he added, given the number of ‘firsts’ the project team will have to achieve if the wind farm is to go live as scheduled at the end of 2023. “It’s the firsts that keep me up at night,” he said.
Onshore efforts will start in earnest next year, including preparing the export cable landfall site and laying high voltage lines in Cape Cod.
US company Southwire has secured the contract to design, manufacture and install the onshore cables.
Clearance of the substation site has been completed and foundation ground-works are underway. Linxon has been signed on to deliver a turnkey 220/115kV facility that will connect the wind farm to the New England independent system operator’s grid when commissioned in 2023.
The developer will then turn its sights offshore, Pedersen said. “We start receiving the turbines at the beginning
of 2023 at the port of New Bedford for pre-assembly and staging. The monopiles will go in once the restrictions for right whales pass.”
This is likely to be in spring once the endangered animals have completed their annual migration. However, right whales can also be prevalent in the shoulder months of the year.
Pedersen said: “We are taking an extra amount of precaution, more than any other project I’ve been involved in.
“We will put the project together, monopiles first as they are the most disruptive to the whales, which will take much longer than we need in Europe because you have to anticipate when they are around as you can’t work (then).
“The cables will be quickly done and the turbines (installation) will be starting immediately after the first foundations go in.”
Another issue unique to the US offshore wind industry that Vineyard Wind and other developers are having to contend with is the Jones Act. This requires that goods shipped between US ports be transported on ships built, owned and operated by US citizens.
As a result, contractor DEME Offshore’s jack-ups will be deployed from Europe to install monopiles and turbines as there is currently no Jones Act-compliant vessel capable of the job.
Barging services, such as transporting the monopiles to the Vineyard Wind site 55km off the coast of Massachusetts, will have to be carried out by other vessels.
“It is more efficient in Europe and once we get a US- built vessel it will be easier,” Pedersen said.
Most of the project’s components will be shipped in from Europe with 62 GE Haliade-X turbines to be manufactured in France. monopiles will be shipped from Rostock, Germany, while Denmark’s Bladt will be supplying the jacket and offshore substation, and Windar Renovables of Spain will be manufacturing the transition pieces.
“The advantage is that anything that has to come into the US has to travel quite far so there are some more cost-effective proposals coming up,” Pedersen said.
A local supply chain will be established soon, he added. “In the past 12 to 18 months, it is quite staggering how fast it is moving.”
Vineyard Wind hopes to be able to co-ordinate the delivery and assembly of all the elements at the port of New Bedford from January 2023. However, the harbour was built in an era when offshore turbines were much smaller.
Pedersen said: “Now the scale of the machines is posing a challenge in themselves. (New Bedford) is less than a 10th of the size of the ports the contractors have been working in before so manoeuvring in that very small area is going to be a challenge in itself.
“It is not through a lack of support but we need to find a way of storing those very large components there.
“I know we can do it but the question is how much learning will we pick up along the way.”
RENEWS: December 2021
Last minute coal fudge price of wider COP26 agreement
Close to 200 countries attending the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow reached a deal last weekend that for the first time cuts back coal use and commits to revisit nations’ emissions reduction plans within a year.
However, watered-down pledges on coal and fossil fuel subsidies left many disappointed.
Delegates agreed to a last-minute change in the text proposed by India and supported by China to “phase down” rather than phase out coal. Several countries registered their unhappiness with the revision but accepted it to save the rest of the package.
COP26 president Alok Sharma said the text is “imperfect” and that he was “deeply sorry” for the way the process unfolded. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was more positive, claiming it was “beyond question” that COP26 had “sounded the death knell for coal”.
RenewableUK chief executive Dan McGrail said the final wording in Glasgow should have gone further to commit to phasing out coal but significant progress had been made at the two-week conference.
“It is clear that we still have a mountain to climb to limit global warming to 1.50C. That is why it is so important for countries to revisit and strengthen their plans to reduce emissions at next year’s COP in Egypt instead of waiting until 2025,” he added.
“We also need to see clearer roadmaps from each country on how they plan to reach net zero with more ambitious targets for rolling out the clean technologies that will do the heavy lifting on decarbonisation.”
McGrail added: “Accelerating the deployment of renewables worldwide right now and over the course of this decade is a take to help to get us back on track towards that goal of keeping 1.5 alive.”
The pledge to phase down coal-fired generation and end support for new coal power plants will “free up the space for renewables”, according to Global Wind Energy Council chief executive Ben Backwell.
The conference’s 190 signatories also pledged to scale up clean power by using resources to “enhance what can be delivered by the private sector”.
Many of these countries are growing economies so will need renewables to fill the void created by the elimination of coal, Backwell noted, adding wind and solar will have to comprise 70% of the energy mix to hit climate targets.
Governments are committing to nationally determined contributions or NDCs and then reverse engineering how much renewables they will need.
“The progress that we have seen with NDCs is translating into interest in wind and solar,” Backwell claimed.
Iberdrola chairman and chief executive Ignacio Galan called for tougher action against coal production.
“We need to close down coal completely and demolish those stations. Otherwise when we have short term market issues there is always a temptation to run them again.”
Renews: November 2021
Shot in the arm for US recovery
The US offshore wind market is being touted as one of the key routes for a post-Covid economic recovery.
Many east coast states are pinning their hopes on the sector rejuvenating ports and coastal communities.
Billion-dollar projects have the potential to create thousands of jobs in manufacturing and maritime industries, according to sources. It is the financial boost the nation needs, say the government and developers.
Vineyard Wind’s Lars Thaaning Pedersen said: “The fundamentals for offshore wind in the Washington to Boston corridor are as strong as I have seen in the world.
“The economic narrative post-Covid green recovery – all of that together should drive a strong industry. The pipeline is now so big you will see serious domestication of the supply chain. That is a recipe for a long-term, stable, high growth market.”
The recent Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act introduced by members of the House of Representatives has set a national offshore wind goal of 12.5GW on the outer continental shelf by 2025, and 25GW by 2030.
The American Wind Energy Association expects the latter target to produce 83,000 jobs and $25bn in annual economic output.
Almost 20 projects are on the drawing board from Maine to Virginia. The most southerly of these alone, Avangrid Renewables’ Kitty Hawk farm is expected to bring $2bn in benefits.
Forecasters at The Renewables Consulting Group value the offshore wind supply chain at more than $80bn over the next decade.
With oil operations in the Gulf of Mexico subject to down times, there is a wealth of expertise in the US working on offshore projects.
Shell and Ocean Winds joint venture Mayflower Wind plans to call upon the oil giant’s former employees for some of its new workforce.
While infrastructure projects will boost local communities, analysts say that more market information is needed on when and where the demands will be.
Training and knowledge gaps also need to be identified, with preparations starting now.
Renews: November 2020
US waits for clear signal
Construction returned to the US offshore wind sector this year after a hiatus but long-term hopes for the industry remain on a knife-edge pending the outcome of a large-scale permitting review.
Dominion Energy and partner Orsted put the 12MW Coastal Virginia demonstration project (pictured) into operation last month.
The scheme, which features a pair of Siemens Gamesa 6MW turbines, is the first in federal waters and the first online since the 30MW Block Island wind farm in 2016.
“The pilot shows we can work with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and go through the permitting process, that we can get it constructed and sold...It shows Virginia, Dominion Energy and America are very serious about offshore wind,” declared Dominion.
While small, the success of the project is expected to pave the way for a giant 2.6GW project in the same lease area in the coming years, as the developer looks to scale up ambitions.
However, to make that step Vineyard Wind needs to pass a BOEM review for its 800MW project off Massachusetts, say developers. All eyes are on the permitting agency, which is due to rule in January.
The Department of Interior’s BOEM ordered a supplementary EIS (SEIS), expanded to encompass other east coast projects. Acting director Walter Cruickshank told renewsthat the SEIS was ordered in response to ocean stakeholder concerns and “will serve as a model for future projects”.
The SEIS put back Vineyard by at least a year and forced a rethink on its contracting. It also had a wider impact by forcing developers to rip up earlier delivery plans.
Orsted said it is “highly likely” most of its pipeline will be delayed even if permitting gets into gear in the first quarter.
Nevertheless, the industry is hoping the Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners project will get the green light to become the first commercial-scale project in US waters.
Wood Mackenzie head of global wind research Dan Shreve told renews: “If there is a decision made on Vineyard that fundamentally delays the US offshore wind sector that is going to be at the detriment to investor confidence in the marketplace.”
Vineyard Wind chief executive Lars Thaaning Pedersen said that he was hopeful of the BOEM decision going in its favour.
The project, seen as the bellwether for the commercial development of the east coast, is aiming to start construction in the second half of 2021 and be online in 2023.
“What is most important for the industry is to see that you can actually get through the regulatory process. That you can build a project. We definitely feel the burden and responsibility of being the first,” Pederson explained.
“We have been a significant part of enabling the growth of the pipeline of this industry and have made commitments to what we are going to do with local content,” he added.
Like many of his fellow developers, Pedersen thinks once the US takes off it will see the same trends as in Europe, where projects have scaled up to keep costs down.
“About five years ago 400MW was the limit for a large project; now it is over a gigawatt. The same fundamentals are playing out in the US,” he concluded.
ReNews: November 2020
US development pipeline getting wetter
Offshore now accounts for 21% of the total US wind energy development pipeline, according to a new American Wind Energy Association study.
Leasehold areas in federal waters along the east coast with potential for 9.1GW of projects represented around half of all development activity in the country between April and June, says the Wind Powers America Second Quarter Report 2020.
Growth was driven by the 804MW Park City Wind project off Massachusetts, which the AWEA now classifies as being in advanced development.
Connecticut utilities Eversource Energy and United Illuminating in May filed contracts for approval with the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority for the Vineyard Wind-owned site. If cleared the companies will off-take Park City’s output under 20-year power purchase agreements.
Laura Morton, AWEA senior director, policy and regulatory affairs (offshore), said: “Offshore wind now accounts for 21% of the current project pipeline, showcasing its contribution to the US wind industry and American energy security.”
Looking ahead, states have now established more than 29GW in offshore wind procurement goals, either through legislation, conditional targets or executive orders. New York has procured the most with 1696MW on its books, closely followed by the state of Massachusetts with 1604MW.
Morton added: “This brand new industry for the US is poised to deliver tens of thousands of jobs, billions in investments, and major climate benefits for our country as we strive to catch up to global competitors.”
Siemens Gamesa is leading the way in the US offshore turbine supply market, according to the new AWEA report. The manufacturer is due to deliver 1741MW of its 8MW machines for Orsted and Eversource’s Revolution Wind, South Fork Wind and Sunrise Wind projects in addition to the 2640MW of 14MW machines Dominion Energy has ordered for its wind farm off Virginia.
GE Renewable Energy is not far behind, however, after its Haliade-X 12MW turbine was selected for Orsted’s Ocean Wind and Skipjack Wind projects, totalling 1220MW.
Renews: August 2020
Port investment plus points in New York’s latest 2.5GW tender
Working with New York’s ports will be key to success for bidders in the US state’s 2.5GW second offshore wind solicitation, the largest in the country to date.
The call for bids issued on 14 July for the first time included €168m in funding for 11 port locations split between Empire State Development grant funding and low-interest financing.
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, which issued the solicitation, said it expects the cash to be matched by private sector funds and winning bids will have to partner with one or more of these ports.
“The package we are looking for will be a generation project, port investment and the utilisation of that port in fulfilling the project itself,” said acting NYSERDA president and chief executive Doreen Harris (pictured).
“Rather than investing in a port without definitive interest from the industry to use that port, we can use this vehicle to bring those components together in a way that will create the leverage.”
This would be done by bringing together energy generation and infrastructure “in a way that would be self-reinforcing in terms of mutual benefits”, Harris told renews.
“We believe this will prepare the industry more effectively to build in New York.”Orsted’s 880MW Sunrise Wind and Equinor’s 816MW Empire Wind secured the contracts in New York’s 2018 solicitations.
This time the evaluation of proposals will be based on an “ultimate weighting of 70% price considerations, 20% economic benefits to New Yorkers, and 10% project viability”, NYSERDA has stated.
Harris said the economic benefits criteria will include using offshore wind to jumpstart the economy. “We will favour those projects that are really doing that in practice.”
The “viability” aspect will not just consider the delivery of a project but other factors including engagement and responsiveness to fisheries or the interests of environmental stakeholders.
Harris added: “We will expect and really value those proposals that not only consider the carbon intensity of their projects but also take tangible steps to minimise embodied carbon in the project construction.”
Contenders in the eligibility area include Orsted’s Revolution Wind, South Fork Wind and Bay State while Equinor will likely bid its Beacon Wind proposal off the coast of New England.
“Equinor is poised to leverage this opportunity and bring the offshore wind industry to New York ports and communities,” said a spokesman for the Norwegian developer.
Renews: August 2020
Regulatory certainty would ‘unlock massive US industry’
Offshore wind has the potential to be one of the largest, if not the largest, new American industry in terms of investments and jobs, according to Orsted’s US offshore chief executive Thomas Brostrom (pictured).
However, regulatory certainty is a prerequisite for investor confidence, he said. “We are at a critical point as we have seen a one-year permitting hold-up that has already had an impact on the entire industry.”
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management last month completed a supplement to its draft environmental impact statement for Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners’ 800MW Vineyard project off Massachusetts that considers cumulative impacts along the east coast.
The full EIS is expected later this year, potentially ending a 12-month permitting delay for the whole sector.
Orsted is hopeful “the logjam has been lifted”, Brostrom told renews.
“The offshore wind industry is new in the US so the regulatory process for projects is not as established as it is in Europe.
“This is not to say this will always be the case. Regulatory road bumps are not uncommon for any new and large infrastructure projects,” he added.
Orsted hopes to see “significant progress in the regulatory space over the next few months”, which will allow the company to make key financial investments.
In any case, the US boss said: “We are extremely pleased to be the leader in development along the east coast with more than 2.9GW of awarded capacity through six projects from New England to the Mid-Atlantic.
“Currently, our (east coast) portfolio has the potential to produce 8GW to 10GW when fully developed.“From a geography standpoint, one of the unique characteristics is the seven adjacent lease areas in New England,” Brostrom said.
“Due to proximity of the leases and in response to stakeholder feedback, the five offshore wind developers owning leases in this region have worked together to focus on navigation and safety by committing to adopting a uniform one nautical mile by one nautical mile turbine layout, an approach which has been supported by a recent US Coast Guard study.”
The recent installation of the two Siemens Gamesa 6MW turbines at the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind demonstration project is a “massive milestone for Orsted (and partner Dominion Energy) and the industry here in the US”, he added.