With the US already regularly listed as one of the world’s key offshore wind markets, even with just a handful of turbines actually in the water, it is sometimes easy to lose sight of how many questions still hang over the sector there.
The availability of installation vessels, and the rules that will govern them, is a particular area of uncertainty for the nascent sector. Recharge reported this week how shipping giant Maersk will deploy a vessel built in Singapore and flagged in Denmark to work on Equinor-BP’s New York projects, using US-based tugs and barges to stay compliant with the nation’s Jones Act governing maritime operations.
Recharge separately revealed, however, how little-known Coast Guard legislation threatens a new level of complexity by placing strict crewing requirements on vessels in US waters, in what one legal experts said could be a “hugely disruptive” development for offshore wind.
The economic prize on offer if the US can get it right with offshore wind were laid bare in a report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), which predicted a potential $9bn annual economic uplift from chasing the national goal of 30GW installed by 2030.
While the focus of attention in meeting that target is currently on the Northeast, the US West Coast is poised to join the party, with Amanda Lefton, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), confirming plans for floating wind lease sales to launch this year.
There was further momentum in Californian waters when Sempra Energy, owner of two large utilities in the state and one of the biggest names in US energy infrastructure, said it may take a share in the 1GW Castle Wind project alongside oil supermajor TotalEnergies.
Recharge also reported an intriguing viewpoint from Aegir Insights that floating wind could be far from just a West Coast play, thanks to the big interest – and big prices – paid in the recent New York Bight offshore leasing round, which may have transformed the economics of deepwater plays in the Central Atlantic.
By mid-century the world will hopefully be a very different place, with a massive international trade in hydrogen and other clean fuels helping to underpin a highly decarbonised global energy system.
Recharge reported this week just how vast the amounts of H2 flowing around the world via pipeline and vessel are expected to be in 2050, with the International Renewable Energy Agency reckoning 614 million tonnes a year will be needed to meet climate goals, the majority of it produced from renewable energy.
Energy islands could play a part in that trade – potentially including the one proposed by Orsted off Denmark, using a modular design that combines power-to-x clean fuels and huge offshore wind power.
And there was proof this week that the market is already stirring, as OCI, a major global producer and distributor of ammonia fertiliser and methanol, announced a partnership with the NortH2 consortium to buy up to 4GW of green hydrogen from the developer’s planned 10GW offshore-wind-to-hydrogen project in the Dutch North Sea.
As for the electrolysis needed to produce the renewable hydrogen, Siemens Energy revealed plans to build a “multi-gigawatt” PEM electrolyser factory in Berlin, with the first 1GW up and running in 2023.
Recharge heads to Spain next week for Wind Europe’s 2022 annual conference and exhibition in Bilbao, where we will take our place as Official Event News Partner.
Look out for news and analysis on the Recharge website, where you will also from Monday be able to access our dedicated Live Centre website for the latest from the event and the wider wind industry.
