Highlights of
Expert Dialogue: Realizing
the Promise of Offshore Wind
Offshore Wind Experts Give Recommendations & Insights
OurEnergyPolicy hosted two discussions on policies around the emerging offshore wind market — first, an online discussion led by Laura Morton of the American Wind Energy Association with comments from energy professionals from across the country, and second, a live panel discussion in New York City as part of OEP’s Energy Leaders Luncheon Series. These are highlights of select comments and remarks from both discussions. Access the full summary document for more.

Context

There is currently only one operating commercial offshore wind farm in the United States (the Block Island Wind Farm launched in 2016 off the coast of Rhode Island), but about 30 more projects are under development. By 2030, the United States is projected to be the fourth largest offshore wind market in the world. The largest offshore wind market is currently the United Kingdom. 

Although offshore wind is not a “silver bullet” solution that works everywhere, it is becoming the lowest-cost option . Offshore wind can generate clean electricity near many of the country’s largest population centers, revitalize coastal and port communities, and create thousands of jobs and a new U.S. supply chain.

European countries typically have a consolidated single permitting and regulatory framework, but new wind projects in the United States need to go through multiple federal, state, and local approvals. The Block Island Wind Farm needed more than 20 approvals.

This information came from Rudolph Wynter (President and COO of Wholesale Networks and U.S. Capital Delivery for National Grid), Clint Plummer (Head of Market Strategies and New Projects for the U.S. division of Ørsted, now CEO of Ravenswood Generating), and Laura Morton (Senior Director, Policy and Regulatory Affairs for Offshore Wind at the American Wind Energy Association) in the live and online discussions.

What Actions Can Enable the Potential of Offshore Wind?
1. Build Out and Optimize Transmission Lines
“ The transmission network has largely been built based on where the fossil fuel generation is. None of that was offshore. So obviously we’re going to see massive amounts of power flows change... [with] the emergence of offshore wind. One of the things we’re doing [at National Grid is] comprehensive analysis of transmission networks —our own and others—around the region.... One of the other things we’re doing is speaking to all the stake-holders...about the need to make these decisions early …. ” Event Recording –  Rudolph Wynter , President and COO of Wholesale Networks and U.S. Capital Delivery for National Grid
“ One solution that you’ll hear us advocating for in Anbaric is we should have a planned approach to an open access transmission grid. Long-standing FERC policy [for] onshore [wind farms] separates ownership and development of transmission and generation, and it has worked well.... ” Event Recording
–  Kevin Knobloch , President, New York OceanGrid LLC at Anbaric
2. Streamline Offshore Wind Project Approvals on the Federal, State, & Local Levels
" The federal government should continue processing offshore wind project plans in an expeditious manner consistent with the Administration’s directives and conduct new lease auctions . All capital-intensive energy industries need regulatory stability. A timely, transparent and predictable regulatory environment is critical to providing business certainty and securing tens of billions of dollars of additional investment in the United States…. " Full Comment (Introduction)
– Laura Morton , Senior Director, Policy and Regulatory Affairs for Offshore Wind, American Wind Energy Association

" The state and federal approvals should be combined in no more than two approvals , and the record in state and federal approvals should be used in the other.... Reasonable time limits for approvals should be set. If there is a basis for it, fees can cover the cost of regulatory approvals so the proposed developers can justify the governmental staff time spent on their projects." Full Comment  
– Elliot Taubman , Commissioner of the Block Island Utility District
3. Extend the Federal Offshore Wind Tax Credit
"Expanding and increasing the wind tax credit for offshore wind makes sense to accelerate deployment , which will directly lower costs [and] increase jobs, yielding reliable stabilized electricity costs without pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, or loss of fresh water...."
Full Comment – Scott Sklar , Energy Director, Environment & Energy Management Institute, The George Washington University
4. Establish State Policies to Enable Industry Growth
“A new state policy, Community Empowerment [ would] empower cities and towns in the Commonwealth to enter into long-term PPAs [power purchase agreements] with specific renewable energy projects of the community’s choice. Given one of the main barriers to renewable project development includes the need for long-term contracts with creditworthy buyers...[this] enabling piece of legislation pairs developers of renewable energy projects with local communities wanting to stabilize energy prices and purchase more renewable energy.... " Full Comment
– Erik Peckar , General Manager, Vineyard Power Cooperative
"It is critical that states considering major introduction of offshore wind projects , such as New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and California, are looking at whether their utilities’ IRP [integrated resource plan] processes are maximally-competitive for all clean energy options including offshore wind...." Full Comment  
 – Henry Goldberg , Consultant, Independent
5. Continue to Fund Research & Development of Offshore Wind Technologies
" We’re not nearly funding enough research & development on this because offshore wind is just so big. The physical characteristics of this push the limits of modern material science.... ” Event Recording
–  Clint Plummer , Head of Market Strategies and New Projects, US at Ørsted (now CEO, Ravenswood Generating)
“ We’re hoping industry players will invest in more research and development so that this effort will continue into the future, because it’s got to be continuous. As the system changes... we’ve got to look at innovation; we’ve got to look at new technologies.” Event Recording
– Robert Catell , Chairman, National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium
Offshore Wind & Hurricanes
" T he first installed floating wind farm was installed in Scotland and has already been through two hurricanes .... Whilst the wind turbines shut down for safety reasons during the worst of these winds, they automatically resumed operation promptly afterwards . A pitch motion controller is integrated with the Hywind turbine’s control system & will adjust the angle of the turbine blades during heavy winds, which mitigates excessive motions of the structure …." Full Comment  
 – Robert Hobson , Principal Designer, NKT
"Here in the Northeast, the return period of a Category 5 hurricane is… in excess of 100 years, while the design life of a wind farm is something in the range of 30–35 years . So in the case of our Block Island Wind Farm, the turbines are designed to withstand a Category 3 hurricane. Anything above a Category 3, we simply have insurance for. If we get a Category 4 or a Category 5 and there is a catastrophic loss, then we have the insurance fund set aside to repair those, and that condition has been accounted for in our permit applications.... So anything less than that up to a certain speed is just a really good day for producing a lot of wind power ." Comment & Event Recording
–  Clint Plummer , Head of Market Strategies and New Projects, US at Ørsted (now CEO, Ravenswood Generating)
Access the full summary document for greater detail.
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