Environmental Verdict In
Path cleared for offshore in Mid-Atlantic
The path to offshore wind development got a little clearer with the announcement that federal officials foresee no significant environmental impact off the coast of New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland.
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Tommy P. Beaudreau said the hurdle cleared will allow Interior to move forward with the process for wind energy lease sales off Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey and Delaware.
The news is that potential leaseholders will have a more streamlined approach through the federal reviews once they get customers and present viable plans for wind development.
BOEM’s National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) assessment found that there would be no significant environmental and socioeconomic impacts from issuing wind energy leases in designated Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) areas off the mid-Atlantic Coast.
The significance is that the rule does not necessarily require the filing of an environmental impact statement, only an environmental assessment, saving developers significant time and money.
“When it comes to powering our nation’s homes, businesses and economy, we need to take an all-of-the-above approach to safely and responsibly developing our domestic energy resources,” Salazar said. “Offshore wind holds incredible potential for our country, and we’re moving full-steam ahead to accelerate the siting, leasing and construction of new projects.”
“This announcement is a significant milestone in efforts to launch a vital new American offshore wind industry. Developing America's offshore wind resource will help us capture a new American manufacturing opportunity and create thousands of new American jobs," said Denise bode, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association.
BOEM also published Calls for Information and Nominations for Maryland and Virginia to solicit lease nominations from industry and request public comments regarding site conditions, resources and multiple uses of the Wind Energy Areas.
In identifying the Wind Energy Areas, a process of intergovernmental agency review was the hallmark of the Interior Department’s “Smart from the Start” effort.
According to BOEM’s Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Task Forces, wind energy areas have been identified off the coasts of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. In square nautical miles, the areas measure: New Jersey, 418; Delaware, 122; Maryland, 94; and Virginia, 164.
The first-of-its-kind lease form that will help streamline the issuance of renewable energy leases on the OCS.
“We are moving toward commercial-scale offshore wind energy leasing in the mid-Atlantic and adding the necessary tools to offer those leases,” said Director Beaudreau. “We considered public input and conducted a thorough analysis to ensure future projects are sited in the right places, where the wind energy potential is significant and where environmental effects and conflicts with other uses can be minimized and managed.”
One project that won’t be executing a lease soon is the offshore wind project off Delaware that had a power purchase agreement in place for three years, but failed to line up investors. NRG Bluewater Wind terminated its power purchase agreement with Delmarva Power & Light for a 200 MW offshore wind project that would have been the first to benefit from the latest government action.
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Comments
Liberal arts 'educated' making energy decision
Hello Ms Sweeney,
Nice to talk to you this morning.
Here's a Link to my current involvment in New Mexico natural gas matters.
What is shale gas and why is it important? states
Earthquakes possibilities
makes 'Finally' inappropriate?
Editorial suggestion is
At What Price?
I believe that you owed it to your readers to share with them how costly energy from these sites will be. As reported in the press (http://washington.cbslocal.com/2012/02/02/off-shore-wind-power-coming-to-virginia/), Virginia Dominion has stated that power from offshore wind will cost 28 cents/kwh before tax credits, compared to its current rates of 11 to 12 cents/kwh.
Surely there must be lower cost initiatives for reducing greenhouse gases .
Leases might not socioeconomic impact but wind power does
I just read a report published by the Civitas group in the UK, a registered educational charity. The report cites information from a study by an engineering consultancy called Mott MacDonald which addresses the life-cycle economics of various generating technologies and the effects on CO2 emissions. Their conclusions were based upon near-term projects (in the works or starting immediately) and medium term (starting in 2017) using UK experiency to date. Their conclusions were that onshore wind is about 40% more expensive than combined cycle gas turbine and advanced cycle coal in the near term. Medium term onshore wind is more expensive than CCGT, advanced cycle coal, and nuclear by a like margin. In the near term, offshore wind is 138% more expensive than CCGT and advanced cycle coal while being 51% more expensive than nuclear. In the medium term offshore wind is 78% more than CCGT, 87% more than ACC, and 51% more expensive than nuclear.
Mott MacDonald also concluded that when one considers the need to operate backup power and stabilizing power generating facilities, there is no reduction of CO2 attributable to wind generation.
Another report by Dutch physicist C. le Pair concluded that wind power in the Netherlands had actually increased CO2 emissions by 3% due to running fossil plants at out of design conditions to backup wind power.
I would say considering the incentives given to wind generators via PTCs and cash grants, there is a socioeconomic impact and it is not positive.