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New York Enacts 100% Clean Energy Law, Secures 1.7 GW of Offshore Wind

July 19, 2019

New York on July 18 enacted the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), law that requires the state to produce 100% of its power from renewables and nuclear by 2040. The legislation includes agreements to build two offshore wind projects worth a combined 1.7 GW by 2025, the single largest renewable energy procurement in the nation.

The CLCPA signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on Thursday codifies ambitions proposed under his “Green New Deal,” a climate change program that he claims is “the most aggressive” in the nation. Specifically, it mandates that New York slash its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 40% by 2030 and 85% by 2050, relative to 1990s levels, effectively setting the state on a definitive course to achieve an energy transition to renewables.

The law will seek to achieve the stringent GHG emission cuts through the installation of 9 GW of offshore wind by 2035, 6 GW of distributed solar by 2025, and 3 GW of energy storage by 2030.…

New Jersey’s First Offshore Wind Farm Will Be a Mammoth 1.1-GW Ørsted Project

June 23, 2019

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Danish renewables firm Ørsted’s 1.1-GW Ocean Wind project is the winner of New Jersey’s first award for offshore wind, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) said on June 21.

Ørsted, with support from Public Service Enterprise Group’s (PSEG) non-utility affiliate, vied for the award with two other offshore wind developers that submitted bids between September and December 2018 in response to the state’s first offshore wind solicitation. Other bidders included Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, a partnership between EDF Renewables and Shell New Energies, and Boardwalk Wind, which was sponsored by Norwegian multinational company Equinor.

NJBPU unanimously granted the award to Ørsted after evaluating wide criteria, including offshore wind renewable energy certificates (OREC) purchase price, economic impact, ratepayer impact, environmental impact, the strength of guarantees for economic impact, and the likelihood of successful commercial operation.

The agency said Ørsted’s economic development plans were the most detailed and could result in net economic benefits of $ 1.17 billion to the state.…

GE Gains Vattenfall’s Backing for Massive 12-MW Offshore Wind Turbine

May 23, 2019

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Swedish utility Vattenfall will take up deployment of the massive 12-MW Haliade-X offshore wind turbine in Europe, marking a major milestone for GE Renewable Energy’s effort to boost sales of the largest turbine currently on the market.

The two companies agreed to cooperate after a year of “intensive exchanges during which Vattenfall conducted an in-depth technical due diligence and both companies jointly worked on the customization of the platform,” Vattenfall said on May 16. The companies will likely finalize details of the cooperation this summer, after which Vattenfall plans a “deep dive on specific projects” within its offshore wind pipeline.

Wind power has increasingly buoyed earnings at Vattenfall, a company that wants to achieve “fossil free living” within one generation. During its first quarter 2019 earnings call on April 25, Vattenfall AB CEO Magnus Hall said Vattenfall’s wind investments have grown beyond 3 GW. Projects include the company’s first unsubsidized offshore wind farm, the 750-MW Hollandse Kust Zuid 1 and 2, which is being built off the Dutch coast and expected to come online in 2022.…

NIPSCO Announces Three New Indiana Wind Farms

February 3, 2019

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Northern Indiana Public Service Co. (NIPSCO), which is phasing out coal-fired power as part of its “Your Energy, Your Future” plan announced late last year, on Feb. 1 said it will develop three new wind farm projects in the state that will add about 800 MW of renewable power generation capacity to its portfolio.

The Merrillville, Ind.-based utility on Friday said the wind farms will be sited in Benton, Montgomery, and White counties. NIPSCO said the projects are partnerships between the utility and private companies, and were chosen after NIPSCO last year issued a request for proposals (RFP) for alternative energy generation.

Violet Sistovaris, NIPSCO’s president, in a statement said, “We’re excited for the opportunity to add more home-grown renewable energy in Indiana. In addition to the economic benefits that projects like these add, the transition we’re making in our electric generation equates to an estimated $ 4 billion in cost-savings for customers over the long-term.”

The utility said it received 90 proposals for energy projects, including 70 sited within the state.…

Wind Power Faces a Post-PTC ‘Valley of Death’

May 17, 2018

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Wind power capacity in the U.S., whose explosive growth has tripled since 2008—even overtaking hydropower to become the nation’s largest source of renewable electricity—could face a period of stagnation once the production tax credit (PTC) is phased out in 2021.

Analysts at WINDPOWER 2018 in Chicago last week called the period between 2021 and 2026 the “valley of death,” and though forecasts vary, many expect that new onshore wind capacity additions will slow if not grind to a halt. That’s despite a number of market drivers wind power has enjoyed recently.

According to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), which hosts the annual wind industry conference, 89.4 GW of wind power from 54,000 wind turbines was installed in the U.S. by the end of the first quarter of 2018. Another 33.5 GW was under construction or in advanced development.

A Certain Dip But When?

Max Cohen, an associate director for IHS Markit’s North American Integrated Energy Research arm, introduced the phrase “valley of death” in one of the first sessions at the conference.…

Xcel Moves Forward With Wind Power Expansion

July 9, 2017

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Xcel Energy plans to add about 1,550 MW of wind power to its portfolio in the Upper Midwest with the addition of seven wind farms expected to be operational by year-end 2020. The additions are among 11 new wind farms announced over the past year by Xcel in seven states that would add a total of 3,380 MW to the company’s system. The company said the expansion would increase its wind portfolio to about 35% of its energy mix by 2021.

The Midwest projects, sited in Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Iowa, would increase Xcel’s regional wind output by about 70%, the company said. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission approved the proposal July 6; the North Dakota Public Service Commission said it would review the plan later this year. Those states, unlike some others, require Xcel to seek state approval to add resources, according to Lisa Kiava, a senior media relations person in Xcel’s Minneapolis, Minn., office. Xcel said the projects would likely run for 25 years.…