Planning reforms for offshore wind projects will cause a renewable energy revolution, according to Irelands Taoiseach Leo Varadkar (pictured).

The Irish cabinet has approved the Marine Development Bill, which would change the application assessment for offshore renewable projects.

Fossil fuels currently provide much of Irelands energy, including half of its electricity.

EirGrid said it planned to ensure renewable energy accounted for 70 per cent of all electricity use by 2030.

The agency that runs the national grid said natural gas would provide the backup for renewable sources.

It promised that the Irish Sea would produce offshore wind at competitive prices.

The legislation would give An Bord Pleanla an independent body that decides on planning appeals primary responsibility for granting permission for offshore wind farms.

Public consultation exercises are being planned for the new year.

The proposed legislation would involve a single consent principle, according to a government source, to remove duplication in the current planning process.

Varadkar said the Republic of Ireland had fallen behind where we should be on offshore wind because our planning system, for offshore and foreshore, just doesnt work.

The country has been slow to adopt offshore wind and tidal power, despite its lengthy, windswept coastline which is constantly buffeted by the Atlantic Ocean.

Varadkar said the government was intent on delivering its Climate Action Plan to reduce emissions, improve air quality and create jobs in the renewable sector.

The Climate Change Advisory Councils 2019 review said the average Irish home emitted 58 per cent more energy-related carbon than the average EU household. It blamed the high use of fossil fuels, particularly coal, peat and oil for heating and minimal renewable generation and district heating compared to other EU countries. With 20 per cent of homes heated by solid fuel, Ireland has the second-highest use of solid fuel for domestic heating in the bloc, after Poland, where 44 per cent of homes are heated by solid fuels.

Varadkar says planning reform could help unlock Irish renewable potential.

So its a new planning system, a little bit like the land planning system working with An Bord Pleanla and that will allow us to have what I believe will be a revolution in terms of offshore wind energy, the prime minister said. And we need to do that. Were going to get from 30 per cent renewables now to 70 per cent by 2030.

Thats much harder than people might think because theres rising energy demand, and rising demand for electricity and the more data centres we have, the more electric vehicles we have, the more people we have who heat their homes with electricity rather than oil or gas or solid fuels, the more electricity well need. So were going to need a huge level of investment in wind energy and solar too, and were going to need to make sure that happens.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. Picture credit: Wikimedia

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Ireland promises offshore wind 'revolution' - Energy Reporters

We bring you the ten most-read articles on OffshoreWIND.biz for the month of December 2019.

Turbines Wanted for 900MW German Offshore Wind Farm

EnBW He Dreiht GmbH is seeking a turbine supplier for the 900MW He Dreiht offshore wind farm in the German North Sea.

Ming Yang Rolls Out First 10MW Turbine Nacelle

Chinas Ming Yang Smart Energy has marked the start of the mass production of the MySE8-10MW typhoon-resistant offshore wind turbine at its factory in Yangjiang, Guangdong.

rsted Looks to Switch to Single Labour Services Sourcing Provider

Worlds leading offshore wind developer rsted is seeking a managed service provider (MSP) for sourcing of labour services.

Sif Removes Vineyard Wind from 2020 Order Book

Sif has removed the Vineyard Wind project from its 2020 order book since the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has not yet issued a permit.

DEME Lays Keel for First Offshore Wind Maintenance SOV

DEME Group has held a keel-laying ceremony for its first dedicated service operation vessel (SOV) for offshore wind farm maintenance.

Denmark Embarks on 10GW Offshore Wind Energy Island Mission

Denmark has initiated studies to find possible locations for one or more energy islands supporting at least 10GW of offshore wind capacity.

GE Offshore Wind CEO Talks Haliade-X 12MW (Video)

President and CEO ofGE RenewableEnergys Offshore Wind business John Lavelle has revealed details about the Haliade-X 12MW turbine to the Offshore WIND team during theinauguration ceremonyheld on 17 December in Rotterdam.

Merkur Offshore Wind Farm to Change Hands

The Renewables Infrastructure Group Limited (TRIG) and the Dutch pension investor APG have signed an agreement to acquire 100% of Merkur Offshore GmbH, the owner and operator of the 396MW Merkur offshore wind farm in the German North Sea.

Ireland Unveils Renewables Auction Scheme

Ireland has revealed details of the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) auction which has received government approval as the country looks to move to 70% renewable electricity by 2030.

Sif Receives Foundation Order from Japan

Sif Holding has entered into exclusive negotiations for the delivery of 33 monopiles and transition pieces for an offshore wind project in Japan.

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Highlights of the Month December 2019 - Offshore WIND

Were definitely into long term investing, but some companies are simply bad investments over any time frame. It hits us in the gut when we see fellow investors suffer a loss. For example, we sympathize with anyone who was caught holding Global Offshore Services Limited (NSE:GLOBOFFS) during the five years that saw its share price drop a whopping 99%. And its not just long term holders hurting, because the stock is down 63% in the last year. Shareholders have had an even rougher run lately, with the share price down 14% in the last 90 days.

While a drop like that is definitely a body blow, money isnt as important as health and happiness.

View 4 warning signs we detected for Global Offshore Services

Global Offshore Services wasnt profitable in the last twelve months, it is unlikely well see a strong correlation between its share price and its earnings per share (EPS). Arguably revenue is our next best option. Shareholders of unprofitable companies usually expect strong revenue growth. Thats because its hard to be confident a company will be sustainable if revenue growth is negligible, and it never makes a profit.

In the last five years Global Offshore Services saw its revenue shrink by 25% per year. Thats definitely a weaker result than most pre-profit companies report. So its not that strange that the share price dropped 63% per year in that period. We dont think this is a particularly promising picture. Ironically, that behavior could create an opportunity for the contrarian investor but only if there are good reasons to predict a brighter future.

The graphic below depicts how earnings and revenue have changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

If you are thinking of buying or selling Global Offshore Services stock, you should check out this FREE detailed report on its balance sheet.

Investors in Global Offshore Services had a tough year, with a total loss of 63%, against a market gain of about 5.5%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. Unfortunately, last years performance may indicate unresolved challenges, given that it was worse than the annualised loss of 63% over the last half decade. Generally speaking long term share price weakness can be a bad sign, though contrarian investors might want to research the stock in hope of a turnaround. You could get a better understanding of Global Offshore Servicess growth by checking out this more detailed historical graph of earnings, revenue and cash flow.

We will like Global Offshore Services better if we see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on IN exchanges.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading.

Excerpt from:

If You Had Bought Global Offshore Services (NSE:GLOBOFFS) Stock Five Years Ago, Youd Be Sitting On A 99% Loss, Today - Simply Wall St

The structure for the WindFloat Atlantic project comprises a floating platform and what is said to be the largest wind turbine ever installed on a floating structure.

(Courtesy EDP Renewables)

Offshore staff

LISBON, Portugal The second of the three platforms for the WindFloat Atlantic project has left the Port of Ferrol for its final destination 20 km (12 mi) offshore Viana do Castelo, Portugal.

The structure, which has set off from the outer harbor of Ferrol, comprises a floating platform and what is said to be the largest wind turbine ever installed on a floating structure.

Upon arrival to the project site, it will be installed next to the first floating platform, which has the same dimensions: 30 m (98 ft) in height and with 50 m (164 ft) between each column. When the final platform once arrives to the site, it will complete the first floating offshore wind farm in Continental Europe.

The 25-MW the wind farm will be able to generate enough energy to supply the equivalent of 60,000 users each year.

The WindFloat Atlantic project is led by the Windplus consortium, comprising EDP Renewables (54.4%), Engie (25%), Repsol (19.4%) and Principle Power Inc. (1.2%).

12/30/2019

See the rest here:

Second WindFloat Atlantic platform heads offshore - Offshore Oil and Gas Magazine

When it comes to discussions of the proposed offshore Skipjack Wind Farm and the related proposals to bring cables carrying the wind-generated power ashore at the Fenwick Island State Park, there seem to be two maybe three schools of thought, generally.

The offshore wind farm, which would be the second in the United States and the largest so far in this country, is slated to be constructed about 19 miles off the coast of southern Delaware. Officials from the company that wants to build the turbines says they will be barely visible from the coast; opponents say otherwise.

Those who favor the projects say wind power is needed to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, which have been linked to climate change and other environmental issues as well as cancer rates.

Those who are against it often cite potential damage to the area economy, because the turbines will be visible from the beach and will make it less attractive to visitors and beachfront-home buyers. They also cite potential environmental damage from the proposed park project, which includes a transmission station which will connect the wind-produced energy to the power grid.

And then there are those who simply feel they need more information in order to make an informed comment or decision.

There are those whose properties are near the park who say it is fine the way it is and needs no improvements. (A proposal unveiled at an open house in October shows Orsteds plans to provide a new building for the Bethany-Fenwick Area Chamber of Commerce, a two-level parking facility, a nature center and event space, improved concessions, and lifeguard housing.)

And on the other side, there are pickleball clubs who clamor for the additional playing space that is proposed to be built atop the transmission station.

Even the house of Fenwick Island Mayor Eugene Langan and his wife, Mary Ellen Langan, is feeling some of strain of differing perspectives on the issue.

At a recent Fenwick Island Town Council meeting, the mayor introduced a resolution, later adopted by unanimous vote, which expressed the councils view that the park project and the wind farm project be thoroughly reviewed and studied to ensure it is in the best interest of the environment, our economic vitality, and the quality of life we cherish, the resolution reads.

The council is concerned with the substation location in an environmentally sensitive area and with the distance of the wind turbines to Fenwick Island shores, it continues. The resolution concludes by requesting council input into any future revision of plans for the state park, the proposed substation or the offshore wind farm, and that any turbines be located out of sight of the shorelines of the town.

Mayor Langan, who recently became president of the Association of Coastal Towns which includes representatives from each of Delawares coastal towns, told those at the December Town Council meeting that ACT mayors had met with Gov. John Carney in November to express their concerns about the Skipjack project and that the governor did not take a stand on the project at that time.

We havent been sitting on our hands regarding the wind farm and the park project, he said.

Mary Ellen Langan, clarifying that she was speaking as myself and not representing her husbands views, said she was the total opposite of those who spoke against the wind farm and the park project. If you havent been reading the newspapers, our planet is dying, she said, and its dying fast, which elicited a chorus of groans from the audience. Oh, baloney one person yelled.

She also mentioned that she believes her bout with cancer was linked to proximity to the coal-fired Indian River Power Plant near Millsboro.

I am for clean energy, she said. Im for windmills on land, off-landits a lot safer than coal and oil. These wind turbines are not going to cause anybody to get cancer, despite what our President says, she said.

Another resident, Richard Robinson, who said he is also a cancer survivor and sensitive to those issues, said his major objection to the wind farm is that it has no focus whatsoever and the notion of the state park project being a public-private partnership is merely a cover for the state parks department seeing money coming from the Danish wind farm developer, Orsted, for improvements the state would not be able to budget for in the near future.

Robinson said the public should be able to see detailed plans for the projects in order to make legitimate and focused comments on what theyre actually doing.

State Rep. Ronald Gray and State Sen. Gerald Hocker sponsored what was billed as an informational meeting in November that filled the Indian River High School auditorium. Representatives from Orsted as well as DNREC Secretary Shawn Garvin and director of Delaware State Parks, Raymond Bivens, were on hand to answer questions.

Most of the attendees, however, chose to make statements rather than ask questions of the panel and a majority of those were against the projects.

Since that meeting, there has been talk, most notably at the December Fenwick Town Council meeting, of the need for grassroots representation of the concerns of residents and property owners along the coast.

Whether that means hiring legal representation, contacting state and federal officials as individuals or as a group, remains to be seen. When those legislators return to Dover and Washington, D.C. from their holiday breaks, they may see an uptick in contacts from constituents regarding the wind farm and the park project.

The legislators themselves, meanwhile, have been largely silent on the issues.

At least one group surfaced in recent weeks on social media, posting largely unsourced information in opposition to the projects and attracting many comments from proponents of the projects as to the sources of its information and the lack of transparency of the pages authors. The page did not list any contact information. By Monday evening, Dec. 30, the page did not show up in a search on Facebook. Whether its authors or Facebook personnel took it down is unclear.

The Skipjack project is currently in the federal permitting stage; Orsted hopes to begin construction by 2021 if that process is successful. Once completed, Orsted officials say it will generate enough energy to power 35,000 homes.

For links to many sources of information on the wind farm projects and the proposed Fenwick Island State Park project, go to the Town of Fenwick Islands web site, http://www.fenwickisland.delaware.gov. The links are located at the bottom right hand corner of the home page; under News and Notices.

There is also information on the Delaware State Parks web site at https://destateparks.com/fenwickimprovements, as well as a six-question survey touching on such topics as amenities and desired repairs or improvements to the park. There is also a section where survey-takers can make general comments about the projects. The deadline for answering the survey has been extended to Jan. 15.

For more information on the proposed Skipjack Wind Farm project from its developer, go to https://us.orsted.com/Wind-projects.

By Kerin MagillStaff Reporter

Visit link:

A rundown on the proposed offshore wind farm - Coastal Point

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has published a detailed report on the prospects for offshore wind, including the global resource, the economics and likely future trends.

The IEA estimates the global technical potential is around 36,000TWh per year in waters less than 60 metres deep and within 60km from shore. (Global electricity demand is currently around 23,000TWh per year).

Moving further from shore, into deeper waters, or both, the IEA reckons that offshore wind could provide around 11 times the expected electricity demand in 2040.

Due to the high capacity factors that are achieved, the IEA coins a new description for the technology: "variable base load".

The report notes that offshore wind produces more energy during the winter months in Europe, the US and China, which means that its system value is generally higher than that of onshore wind and solar PV.

The IEA expects offshore wind to be competitive with fossil fuels within the next decade, as well as with other renewables including solar PV, with the levelised cost falling by nearly 60% by 2040.

The decrease in offshore-wind generation costs has been rapid during the past few years and this trend based on prices bid in recent tenders in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and elsewhere is expected to continue.

The current price of offshore wind is around $150/MWh, so a 60% reduction to $60/MWh would bring it within the range of current wholesale electricity prices.

Data from the European Commission shows that levels in the second quarter of 2019 were within the $36-60/MWh range, with a pan-European average of around $47/MWh.

However, some developers have already submitted zero-subsidy bids in Europe, which suggests that convergence will occur within the next few years.

Electricity prices in Australia are expected to fluctuate, but are forecast to be within a similar range within the next few years.

In the US, prices are about 20% lower, while they are about 50% higher in Japan, making the Asian country an attractive market for offshore wind.

By 2030, the rate of construction of offshore wind is expected to be around 20GW per year, and the IEA expects offshore wind will increase at least 15-fold by 2040, which would take its capacity to around 375GW.

There are a number of caveats, however, and the report emphasises the need for clear policies from governments, who are encouraged to "facilitate investments of this kind by establishing a long-term vision for offshore wind."

This will also facilitate the establishment of appropriate supply chains. Electricity regulators are also encouraged to support the construction of appropriate grid infrastructure, both onshore and offshore.

One of the factors that has helped the reduction in levelised costs of offshore wind has been increased investor confidence which, in turn, has led to lower costs for loans and for equity contributions.

The IEA illustrates this effect by showing that a reduction in the weighted average cost of capital from 8% to 4% leads to a reduction in the current levelised cost from $140/MWh to around $100/MWh.

In the October issue, we reported on the uncertainty surrounding the influence of global warming on wind speeds.

A recent report from a team of around a dozen institutions, led by Princeton University in the US and including data from 1,400 weather stations around the globe dispels this uncertainty and unequivocally states that wind speeds have increased over the past decade.

While there had been some evidence of a decrease in the later years of the last century, that reversed from around 2010.

So a typical wind turbine would have produced about 17% more energy in 2017 than in 2010, and the authors predict that the trend of increasing wind speed will continue for at least another ten years.

At a glance This months report conclusions

Offshore Wind Outlook 2019, International Energy Agency, October 2019 Detailed assessment of global offshore wind energy resource and of costs expects costs to fall by 60% to 2040 and total capacity to grow at least 15-fold in that period.

Originally posted here:

WindEconomics: IEA bullish on offshore growth and falling costs - Windpower Monthly

One day, resource-deprived Japan may no longer have to import its energy, nor rely on nuclear power or coal, thanks to a renewable source with vast potential: offshore wind power.

The International Energy Agency said in a report in November that by 2040, offshore wind power alone has the potential to meet Japans total power demand by over ninefold and the worlds total electricity demand by elevenfold. The technology could become the worlds mainstay power supply, the IEA says, contingent on one thing: the further development of floating turbines.

2020 will be an inflection point in the nations full-scale development of offshore wind after a new law took effect in April 2019 allowing offshore turbines to operate for up to 30 years. Previously, most prefectures could only give permits lasting up to five years, making it difficult for developers to invest in major projects.

The law also designated 11 sites for offshore wind power and the government is expected to hold public tenders as early as this spring for four areas off of Akita, Chiba and Nagasaki prefectures.

Japan is jockeying to join the new growth market and follow the success of its neighbors, despite the prevalence of water depths of more than 60 meters surrounding the country conditions ill-suited for fixed-bottom wind turbines. Development of offshore wind has been accelerating in China and Taiwan, which are known for having an abundance of shallow coastal waters.

Japans need for renewable sources is only growing given international criticism of its use of coal in the post-Fukushima world. Solar power capacity expansion accounted for the vast majority of renewable power supplies following the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear crisis in 2011 but there have been signs of slowing investments hampered by a substantial decline in the feed-in-tariff price and a lack of connected grid capacity.

In contrast, theres ample room to expand offshore wind and a total of 13 gigawatts worth of projects are in the pipeline, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Those projects are undergoing environmental assessments, which may take up to five years, but they could be up and running by 2030 given a construction period of two years, said Yoshinori Ueda, a Japan Wind Energy Association board member.

The association estimates that 10 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity will be installed by 2030, the equivalent of about 10 nuclear reactors, which would create direct investments of 5 trillion to 6 trillion, generate 80,000 to 90,000 new jobs and curb total carbon dioxide emissions by 71 million tons.

The potential is huge as Japan has one of the worlds 10 largest exclusive economic zones. Still, the government needs to take a more proactive approach, industry sources say, as private companies face a heavy burden, including securing local consent for offshore wind projects and conducting environmental assessments, in stark contrast to firms in Europe, where offshore wind power was pioneered.

Taiwan decided to work on offshore wind after the Fukushima nuclear disaster and quickly surpassed Japan, Ueda said. Japan is slow. No other country spends as long as five years on environmental assessments. We are requesting that the government take a central role for spearheading offshore wind like in Europe, so that the private companies would only need to build turbines.

Offshore wind power capacity in the European Union has grown to around 20 gigawatts so far, helped by strong winds and shallow waters in the North Sea. But China has been emerging as a key player after installing more offshore wind capacity than any other country for the first time in 2018, adding 1.6 gigawatts, followed by Britain and Germany, according to the IEA.

For waters deeper than 60 meters, floating wind turbines are the optimal choice. But they are still not economically feasible and there are only a limited number of projects that operate them commercially worldwide, including some in Japan, according to industry sources. As a result, installations of floating wind turbines are unlikely to become more widespread until after 2030, Mizuho Banks research showed.

Japan currently operates offshore wind power plants with a total capacity of only around 64 megawatts, including about 5 megawatts for floating turbines, and no large-scale commercial wind farms have begun commercial operations so far.

Though some European countries have installed turbines in their exclusive economic zones, Japan has not yet enacted a law to make that possible.

The Japan Wind Power Association says the nation has the potential to set up 91 gigawatts of fixed-bottom turbines alone in the general waters of its coasts. But if cost-competitive floating turbines were developed, the opportunities would be unlimited if they were deployed further out to sea, Ueda said.

Global grid-connected offshore wind capacity additions grew 15 percent to nearly 4.5 gigawatts in 2018 from the year before, but offshore wind annual capacity additions needs to more than quadruple by 2030 to get on track with the sustainable development goals under the Paris Agreement, according to the IEA.

Going forward, offshore wind capacity may jump fifteenfold and attract $1 trillion of cumulative investments by 2040, the IEA added.

Several private firms have been eyeing a slice of the nascent industry. Companies like Sumitomo Corp., Japan Renewable Energy Corp. and Japan Wind Developments Co. are planning to build a total of more than 1 gigawatt of offshore wind turbines in Akita Prefecture alone.

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. has unveiled plans to build a 370-megawatt offshore wind farm in Choshi, Chiba Prefecture, while construction firm Toda Corp. has been eyeing a floating wind farm in Nagasaki Prefecture.

Jera Co., a fuel venture between Tepco and Chubu Electric Power Co., is one of the most active players. It is considering a bid for the rights to set up several hundred megawatts worth of fixed-bottom turbines in Japan, taking advantage of its experience overseas, Ken Matsuda, the general manager of the companys renewable energy development group, said in an interview.

In 2018, Jera acquired a stake in the operations of the Gunfleet Sands Offshore Wind project in Britain, which has a 173-megawatt capacity. It has also invested in the Formosa 1 and Formosa 2 projects in Taiwan, with a total capacity of more than 500 megawatts when completed, and is in discussions to take a substantial stake in the 2-gigawatt Formosa 3 project.

In total, Jeras equity in offshore wind power capacity in Taiwan alone is set to exceed 1 gigawatt. With its parent firms owning roughly half of Japans thermal power plants, Jera is accelerating its green shift and aims to raise the renewable power capacity to 5 gigawatts by fiscal 2025 from about 1.1 gigawatts now.

Jera President Satoshi Onoda said the company is considering bidding on multiple projects expected to be up for a tender this year but added that optimum sites for installing offshore wind turbines are limited in Japan compared with Taiwan.

The competition is tough because there are many competitors out there, he said. If possible, we would like to take a leading position of fixed-bottom offshore wind projects in Japan.

More here:

With coal under fire, 2020 could be a big year for wind power in Japan - The Japan Times

The Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC) is currently implementing US$2.6 billion worth of projects expected to boost Irans offshore oil production by 85,000 barrels per day (bpd), Iranian media reported on Monday.

The Iranian state-held offshore oil firm has awarded various projects to Iranian service contractors, Alireza Salman-Zadeh, the head of IOOC, said. The contracts include work on drilling, completion, and repair of 40 wells, as well as the construction and installation of wellhead equipment and five offshore platforms. Work is being done to boost oil production at the Siri field in the Persian Gulf under a contract with an Iranian company, Salman-Zadeh said.

Considering that Irans oil, shipping, and financial industries are under strict U.S. sanctions, Irans efforts to keep or increase its offshore oil production can be done only in contracts with domestic firms right now, because foreign firms fled Iran after the U.S. slapped back sanctions in May 2018.

Western majors such as Total were the first to quit Iran after the sanctions, but earlier this year even China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) withdrew from the development of Phase 11 of the giant South Pars natural gas field, in a major blow to Irans oil and gas industry.

The U.S. sanctions on Irans oil industry and exports have significantly cut Iranian oil exports over the past year, as the United States ended in May 2019 all waivers for all of Irans oil buyers and is going after anyone dealing with Iranian oil.

Iran continues to export oil, especially to China, but it has drastically increased the secrecy of how it ships that oil abroad and says that it is using every means possible to export its crude.

Meanwhile, crude oil production in Iranonce OPECs third-largest producer before the U.S. sanctions kicked indropped by another 45,000 bpd to average just 2.102 million bpd in November, according to OPECs latest data. To compare, Irans crude oil production averaged 3.813 million bpd in 2017.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:

Here is the original post:

Iran Looks To Boost Offshore Oil Production By 85000 Bpd - OilPrice.com

With 2019 now behind us, our editorial team looks back on what shaped the offshore wind industry in the last year of the decade.

Below is a subjective list highlighting some of the most impactful events in the sector:

UK Offshore Wind Strike Prices Slide Down to GBP 39.65/MWh

Offshore wind projects selected in the third Contracts for Difference (CfD) Allocation Round 3 will be delivered at a strike price as low as GBP 39.65/MWh, a near 30% reduction compared to the second CfD auction held in 2017.

GE Haliade-X 12MW Produces First Power in Rotterdam

The GE Haliade-X 12MW prototype wind turbine located at Maasvlakte, the Port of Rotterdam, produced its first power in early November.

Vietnamese Offshore Wind Farm Breaks Ground

Vietnams Tra Vinh Wind Power has held a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of construction of the 48MW Korea- Tra Vinh wind farm (Phase 1).

Dunkirk Strike Price Is EUR 44/MWh

The Dunkirk offshore wind farm will deliver electricity to the French national grid at a strike price of EUR 44/MWh, Commission de rgulation de lnergie (CRE) has revealed.

Spains First Offshore Wind Turbine Goes Into Operation

The 5MW Elisa prototype, Spains first offshore wind turbine, was officially put into operation in March.

Last Turbine Stands at Worlds Largest Offshore Wind Farm

The final Siemens Gamesa 7MW wind turbine was installed at rsteds 1,218MW Hornsea One offshore wind farm located 120 kilometres off Yorkshire, UK, in early October.

Senvion Starts Offshore Wind Wind-Down

German wind turbine manufacturer Senvion has started a wind-down process of its offshore wind segment for which a potential buyer still has not been found.

Arcadis Ost 1 First to Use Floating Turbine Installation Method

Parkwind, MHI Vestas and Heerema Marine Contractors (HMC) will utilize a new floating turbine installation method on the Arcadis Ost 1 offshore wind farm, an industrys first.

South Korean Floating Wind Attracts Big Names

The City of Ulsan has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with four domestic and foreign partnerships and investors to build and maintain floating wind farms, as well as to create a local supply chain in South Korea.

First UK Offshore Wind Farm Disappears from Horizon

E.ON has decommissioned the two-turbine Blyth project, the first offshore wind farm built in UK waters.

rsted Greenlights 900MW Taiwanese Offshore Wind Farm

rsted has taken the final investment decision (FID) on the Changhua 1 and 2a offshore wind farm in Taiwan.

Japanese Floating Wind Turbine Put Into Operation

Japans New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) has held an opening ceremony in Kitakyushu City to commemorate the start of demonstration operations for the Hibiki barge-type floating offshore wind power generation system.

rsted and Equinor Share New York Offshore Wind Spoils

The State of New York has selected Bay State Wind, a joint venture between rsted and Enersource Energy, and Equinor to develop two separate offshore wind projects with a combined capacity of around 1.7GW.

First WindFloat Atlantic Turbine Sets Sail

The first WindFloat Atlantic platform with the turbine fully installed has set off from the Spanish Port of Ferrol towards its final destination 20 kilometres off the coast of Viana do Castelo in Portugal.

Mega Jack-Up to Install Haliade-X Turbines on Dogger Bank

Jan De Nuls new offshore jack-up installation vessel Voltaire will have its debut on the 3.6GW Dogger Bank offshore wind farm in the UK.

Here is the original post:

Top News of 2019 Editors' Picks - Offshore WIND

Aberdeen must strike now or miss its chance on the offshore wind market, a local MSP has warned after a new plans revealed future projects could dominate the north-east coastline.

The Scottish Governments new draft sector marine proposals show at least three potential areas for offshore wind development around Aberdeen, with an even greater number considered off the north-east and Highlands.

Shetland, Orkney and the Western Isles could also see a number of projects nearby.

Labour MSP for the north-east of Scotland, Lewis Macdonald, said the proposals showed the clear importance of the north-east in the future of offshore wind, adding that the Highlands and Islands also had huge potential.

But he added that the region must be decisive so it doesnt miss the boat altogether.

Mr Macdonald said: We have huge potential for economic benefits and carbon reduction by producing green energy in the north of Scotland, whether thats offshore wind, wave or tidal power.

And the importance of the north-east couldnt be clearer from these plans.

However, Mr Macdonald described the sectors ability to create jobs as a real challenge for the current Scottish Government.

He added: The key thing is not just to have the renewable energy generation, but to also get jobs out of it, because so far the story is not a good story.

There are a lot of fantastic offshore wind developments, but not a lot of fantastic offshore wind jobs.

Scottish energy minister Paul Wheelhouse said the new plans outlined the Scottish Governments ambition for offshore wind, both fixed foundation and floating and the steps it will take to secure maximum development and economic benefit from this sector.

Mr Macdonald said he was pleased to see the provision of both fixed and floating wind projects in the draft proposal.

But he warned that the transition to cleaner energy has to begin now in the north east.

He added: If we dont seize the moment and start to create good quality jobs in renewable energy in the north-east of Scotland over the next two or three years then were going to miss the boat altogether.

For the north of Scotland, which has contributed so much to the oil and gas economy over the last 40 years, it would be a tragedy if it wasnt part of the next energy revolution its a key moment.

See more here:

Aberdeen must 'strike now or miss its chance' on offshore wind, MSP warns - News for the Oil and Gas Sector - Energy Voice

Texas-based Noble Energy began natural gas production at its Leviathan processing platform off Israels Mediterranean coast on Tuesday.

As processing of the gas begins, dozens of tons of pollutants were expected to be released into the air, including 76 kilograms (167 pounds) of benzene, a carcinogen. The processing platform is 9.5 kilometers (about 6 miles) off Israels Carmel coast.

Three hundred people protested outside government offices in Tel Aviv against the project's potential health risks. Some held signs saying "the people demand clean air to breathe."

Some residents in towns south of Haifa made plans toleave their homes for at least the duration of the startup phase of production, fearing air pollution levels would rise.

Local authorities sought to allay these concerns saying no dangerous level of pollution had been monitored on Tuesday morning, and they would be on the lookout to see whether the situation changed later in the day.

The extraction of undersea natural gas to the platform began on Tuesday morning, involving two wells at a drilling platform 120 kilometers (75 miles) off the Israeli coast. The gas was to flow through a pipeline to the processing platform 9.5 kilometers from the coast off Dor Beach.

The emissions of pollutants were expected to last through the afternoon.

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The Sharon-Carmel Association of Cities and the Environmental Protection Ministry will be monitoring the process with hourly reports on the composition of the gas and a sampling of the pollutants at several different locations. Thermal cameras will monitor possible leaks.

Both agencies said that according to forecast models, air pollution on shore should not exceed maximum allowable benzene concentrations.

But some residents said they wouldn't take any chances. In Zichron Yaakov, Pardes Hannah, Hadera, Atlit and communities in the Carmel Coast region many people said they had plans to temporarily evacuate their homes.

Gal Kopf of Zichron Yaakov was planning to leave with her husband and two children on Monday night to stay with her family in Kiryat Haim, a northern neighborhood of Haifa in an area of the city that is home to heavy industry. On ordinary days, its full of pollution, but its apparently better there. Were not prepared to be guinea pigs, she said.

If the Environment Ministry would bring their families for a picnic on Dor Beach [on Tuesday], maybe they would restore some of my confidence. But as long as they arent doing that, of course they will say there is no risk. Its not as if they will see results immediately. Tomorrow is just the opening shot.

Maya Cypress of Moshav Avihayil, northeast of Netanya, and one of the organizers of the evacuation, said she and her husband weren't sure when they would return home with their two children. Spending time with her parents in Jerusalem was one option.

The emissions will continue for eight hours but what will happen after that? The gas production is starting and there isnt any filter for the pollution, Cypress said.

An organization called Shomrei Habayit, which has been battling the gas platform, posted a list on its Facebook page of area doctors who had committed to leave the area. The organization also announced plans for a protest strike at several area elementary schools and high schools.

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Fearing pollution, Israelis leave homes as offshore gas production begins - Haaretz

HALIFAX, N.S.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the first in a five-part series. With the teens behind us, SaltWire Network is presenting a series looking at 2020 and the decade ahead. Over the coming days, we will present stories that delve into five topics: Oil and gas, the economy, fisheries, forestry, and technology and innovation. Each story will examine the top trends in each sector and offer insights for the year to come.

It's a recipe for an oil and gas bonanza.

Start with the staggering 52 billion barrels of oil and 200 trillion cubic feet of gas estimated under the seafloor.

Add a dozen of the worlds biggest oil and gas companies, up to a hundred exploratory wells over the coming decade and the potential for jobs galore.

The result is a nearly $4-billion race to find the next big energy project off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador.

In a province struggling with a declining population and massive public debt, the offshore potential of Canadas easternmost province could kickstart a fiscal revolution.

Yet with mounting concerns over climate change and calls to leave fossil fuels in the ground, the development of Newfoundlands energy sector is contentious.

For some, plans to increase hydrocarbon production even as scientists sound the alarm over global warming, sea level rise and extreme weather events is indefensible.

Weve known for years that we need a managed decline of fossil fuel production in order to remain below 1.5 C of warming and avoid the worst impacts of climate change," said Jordy Thomson, marine science and conservation co-ordinator with the Ecology Action Centre in Halifax.

"We need a just transition to a green economy for workers, and plans to extract large oil and gas reserves in Atlantic Canadas offshore will make our collective problems worse.

Yet others point to rising global demand for oil and gas. They argue that continued development with the appropriate environmental protections in place can be part of a sustainable transition to a cleaner economy.

The reality is worldwide demand for oil is still expected to increase for the next two decades and then taper off, Paul Barnes with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers said in an interview from St. Johns.

It wont go down to zero right away.

Despite the controversy, plans to develop Newfoundlands offshore continue unabated.

Oil and gas companies are expected to launch 10 exploration programs over the coming years. Several exploratory wells will be drilled this year, with up to a 100 expected over the decade.

The frenzy is likely to see some Newfoundland workers, long accustomed to travelling to other provinces for work, have their pick of jobs closer to home.

Up to 7,500 people could be directly employed in the offshore by 2030, according to a 2018 provincial government report. Rosier projections that include supply and service sector spin-off jobs peg the potential for jobs even higher.

The province is attracting the giants of the energy industry. By 2021, ExxonMobil Canada, Chevron Canada, Equinor Canada and China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) have committed to spending $1.7 billion.

By 2022, BP Canada, Navitas Petroleum, CNOOC and Husky Energy have committed to spending $763 million, and by 2024, BHP Canada, Equinor and Suncor Energy plan to spend about $1.4 billion on exploration.

But Barnes cautions that until a large discovery is made, its unclear what the offshore industry will look like in a decade.

Theres quite a bit of excitement and activity in Newfoundlands offshore, Barnes said. But youve got to discover something. This is all money to be spent exploring.

Above: The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador'sOffshore Petroleum Activity Mapping App

About one and 10 exploration wells worldwide hits an oil field thats big enough to make production worthwhile.

But the odds are better in Newfoundland. About one in seven exploratory wells have been successful, Barnes said.

Newfoundland has had a succesful offshore for years, with four producing oil fields: Hibernia, Terra Nova, White Rose and Hebron.

Yet the search for the next big oil project has led companies increasingly further from shore into deeper, colder waters.

Much of Newfoundlands offshore success has been in the Jeanne DArc Basin. But new exploration plans are aimed further east at the Flemish Pass Basin.

Over the next several years were expecting to see a flurry of activity there, Barnes said, adding that the big oil and gas players planning to explore the deeper waters have experience around the world in similar conditions.

Newfoundlands natural resources minister said the province is encouraging exploration to ensure the continued development of its resources.

We will continue to position the province as an internationally preferred location for oil and gas exploration and development one that values safety and environmental responsibility and maximizes benefits to the people of the province, Siobhan Coady said in a statement.

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Multibillion dollar oil and gas boom on Newfoundlands horizon - The Telegram

Refresh for latest: Sonys Jumanji: The Next Level is out in 18 early overseas release markets ahead of domestic next weekend, and in many, the movie is stepping up versus predecessor Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle. Overall, the Jake Kasdan-directed sequel opened to $52.5M at the international box office, slightly down on the last films $54.8M (at historical rates and in like-for-likes) while also lower than where the industry saw The Next Level ahead of the weekend the culprit here is China.

There were 16 No. 1 openings for The Next Level across Europe and Asia, but rumble was lacking in the jungle in China as the film lags the previous installment with an estimated debut frame of $25.3M. It still topped the Middle Kingdom box office at No. 1 in a sluggish market where word of mouth is down, with a 6.2 on Douban and a 7.7 on Maoyan, versus the earlier films respective scores of 6.9 and 8.6.

Dwanye Johnson has a big base in the Middle Kingdom, but the movie didnt pin audiences down as hoped. Across the board, industry sources we spoke with were seeing The Next Level in China coming in at around $40M before the session began. That led to those projections of a $60M+ overseas opening. But China was ultimately flat from Friday to Saturday with no family bump. It also didnt help that Sonys release date changed very close to the last minute. The Middle Kingdom authorities are in charge of dating, and backed The Next Level up from an original December 13 to December 6 which impacted the ability to get Johnson and others to Beijing, particularly as the Thanksgiving holidays were in the mix. A dedicated press day for key Chinese media and social influencers had been handled out of Cabo in November and the team then did a three-city European tour, which has paid dividends so far (Frances $5.7M weekend is 93% ahead of Welcome To The Jungle, for example).

China repped just 14% of the last films overseas gross and is not required to be the major driver on what last time around was a global property that took in nearly $1B worldwide. With domestic still to come next session and many overseas markets to go, its early to make a call on this one. The previous film had a wild multiple, playing as counter programming to Star Wars: The Last Jedi. This year, Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker starts rollout on December 18 internationally.

Numbers elsewhere in Europe and Asia on The Next Level are much better, relatively, than in China. The Netherlands opened 58% ahead of the last film and the Nordics combined outperformed it by 30%. South East Asia as a whole did 47% better than Jungle including Malaysia which scored the 2nd biggest opening of the year and the biggest Sony opening ever for the market.

Given the small share of markets, Jumanji: The Next Level was not expected to lead overseas play, and particularly with the Frozen 2 ice-grip in the mix. That Disney movie added $90.2M this session in 48 offshore markets, retaining scores of No. 1s and seeing soft drops. The international cume is now $582.1M for $919.7M global as it looks towards $1B next weekend, and has helped push Disney past the $10B mark worldwide.

Other major titles like Fox/Chernins Ford V Ferrari and Lionsgates Knives Out are continuing to perform, with respective offshore cumes of $76.5M and $60.6M to date.

Breakdowns on the films above and more are being updated below.

NEWJUMANJI: THE NEXT LEVELSony PicturesSonys sequel to the reboot of the beloved 1995 original didnt step it up as well as hoped in its early offshore bow, but thats primarily down to one market. China can be fickle and the family/general audience simply didnt turn out this weekend which was overall rather sluggish.

The Next Level still took in $52.5M from 18 overseas markets, including $23.5M from the Middle Kingdom (which also includes $2.3M from IMAX there). Roundly, industry sources we heard from ahead of the weekend were pegging $40M in China for a $60M+ launch session. Ultimately, the numbers came in lower but with bright points in some areas.

Dwayne Johnson & Co launch next weekend in North America as well as the UK, Germany, Spain, Russia, Korea, Japan and Mexico. The idea is to jump start the holidays before Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker dominates discussion beginning December 18. The last Jumanji worked as leggy counter programming to The Last Jedi, so well see how that pans out this time around. Based on the initial 18 markets, its early to make a call and recalling that China repped only 14% of the earlier movies haul.

Diving down, Europe was powered by France where a $5.7M start was 93% ahead of Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle. The team did local press, which helped, and a nationwide strike on Thursday also appears to have fueled some of the gross. The strikes, such as we are all too accustomed to here, are scheduled to continue next week.

In the Netherlands, The Next Level topped the chart with $1.4M, which is 58% ahead of the last film. The Nordics grabbed No. 1s in all five debut markets for a combined total of $2.4M (+30% vs WTTJ).In Asia, Taiwan played relatively like China with just $2.3M. However, Malaysia debuted to $4.6M for the 2nd biggest opening of the year and the biggest Sony opening ever for the market. Indonesia bowed to $6.4M, which is the 2nd biggest opening ever for a December release there, and Singapore and Philippines opened to $1.7M and $1.4M, respectively.

Ultimately, the top hubs for Welcome To The Jungle last time around were China, the UK, Australia, France and Russia. The movie played to a high multiple, continuing to beat the drum for weeks until its offshore final of $557.6M and $962.1M global (at historic rates). Well obviously keep an eye on this one going forward.

HOLDOVERS/EXPANSIONSFROZEN 2DisneyDisneys winter wonderland continues as Frozen 2 has packed another $90.2M into the sleigh this weekend internationally. That brings the offshore cume to a snow-stopping $582.1M and global to $919.7M with $1B worldwide in reach later this week.

The sequel is about to become the No. 12 animated release of all time overseas, and the 4th Walt Disney Animation Studiosmovie within that top group.

In IMAX, Frozen 2 this weekend set a new global record as its biggest animated film ever. The global cume is $38.6M to overtake Chinese title Ne Zha in the format.

F2 added South Africa this weekend where $800K gave Disney its best animated opening ever. Elsewhere, there were continued No. 1s in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, UAE, UK, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Philippines, Australia, New Zealand and every territory released in Latin America. Brazil does not release until January 2.

In holds, the grip is tight. Overall, the drop was 47% overseas. The best holds included Poland (-13%), Spain (-18%), Chile (-22%), Germany (-25%), Israel (-25%), Netherlands (-30%), Japan (-30%), France (-40%), Hong Kong (-43%), Australia (-44%), Korea (-47%), Mexico (-47%), Italy (-48%) and Taiwan (-49%).

Frozen 2 has already become the highest grossing animated title of all time in Korea, Indonesia,Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand as well as the 2nd highest grossing animated title of all time in India and Ukraine.

The movie has further surpassed the original in Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Korea, Mexico, Vietnam, India, China, Poland, Hong Kong, Russia, Peru, Central America, Colombia, Ecuador, Albania, Bosnia/Herz, Croatia, Czech Rep, Egypt, Ethiopia, Hungary, Israel, Kuwait, Macedonia, Oman, Qatar, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Syria, Turkey, UAE and Ukraine.

Here are the Top 5 markets: China ($104.4M), Korea ($75.5M), Japan ($55M), UK ($43.1M) and Germany ($34.4M).

FORD V FERRARI20th Century FoxAdding Korea and Thailand, notably, Fox/Chernins awards-season racer has lifted its international cume to $76.5M. The Disney release picked up $8.3M in 52 material markets this lap, and raised the global total to $167.6M so far.

The Christian Bale/Matt Damon-starrer raced to $3.3M at No. 2 in Korea, behind only Frozen 2. Elsewhere, holds have been strong in Germany (-23%), Hungary (-24%), Austria (-28%), New Zealand (-31%), Australia (-33%), Spain (-36%), Denmark (-37%), India (-39%), Taiwan (-39%), Belgium (-40%), Netherlands (-43%), Brazil (-43%), Hong Kong (-44%), Switzerland (-49%) and Peru (-49%).

Still to come is the Japan release on January 10, and the China date is still TBD.

The Top 5 markets so far are Russia ($9.5M), France ($8.2M), UK ($7.3M), Australia ($5.8M) and Mexico ($4.6M).

KNIVES OUTClaire Folger/LionsgateLionsgates ensemble thriller is keeping audiences on the edge of their seats offshore with another $18.7M from 68 counter programmed markets this weekend. That cuts a fine figure of $60.6M international for $124.1M global.

Koreathis session was the top debut market with a strong$1.7M, ranked No. 4 from 686 locations. ItalyandMexicoalso kicked off well with$1.2Mfrom 361 locations and$1.1Mfrom 871 locations, ranked Nos 3 and 2, respectively.China, where the Daniel Craig pic had an impressive start last session, remains the top grossing market with$23.6M to date. In the UK, the gross is $8.1M so far, just a 20% drop from open.

Upcoming major markets include Brazil on December 12, followed by Germany and Japan in January.

LAST CHRISTMASUniversalUniversals romantic comedy added $10.9M in 61 markets this weekend, including 22 new outings. The offshore cume is now $51.3M for $84.8M global as play continues through the festive season. Overall overseas, the Emilia Clarke-starrer is tracking ahead of The Intern, Yesterday, Crazy Rich Asians and About Time.

Russia opened at No. 3 with $1.5M, ahead of Yesterday by 224% and About Time by 471%. In Korea, where About Time became a phenomenon, Last Christmas bowed to $1M, better by 29% than CRA. Mexico was also new at No. 3 with $848K two track ahead of The Holiday (+95%) and CRA (+144%).

The UK has now grossed $15.8M, with a 19% drop this 4th session. Australia dipped 22% for a run-in cume of $6M, while Germany was up 13% for a $5.2M gross so far.

Thailand and Italy are still to bow.

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Jumanji: The Next Level Notches $53M In Early Offshore Bow; Many Markets Up, But China Not Game; Frozen 2 Plows To $920M WW International Box Office...

Credit: Vineyard Wind

By The Maritime Executive 2019-12-07 20:32:23

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has announced that Vineyard Wind has been selected to advance to contract negotiations with the states electric distribution companies to provide 804MW of offshore wind through the development of the Park City Wind Project. The Park City Wind project will now enter into contract negotiations with the states two electric utilities, The United Illuminating Company and Eversource Energy, for a contract with a 20-year term.

When it comes online in 2025, the project will provide the equivalent of 14 percent of the states electricity supply, becoming a major part of Connecticut's reliance on natural gas power plants. The Department says the Park City Wind project is offered at a price lower than any other publicly announced offshore wind project in North America.The project also includes an estimated $890 million in direct economic development in Connecticut, including Bridgeport Harbor and the local supply chain. Vineyard Wind estimates 2,800 direct full-time employment years will be created in Connecticut through the project.

Vineyard Wind says that Park City Wind has the potential to establish Bridgeport often referred to as The Park City into an American hub for the emerging U.S. offshore wind industry. Over the last two years, states from Virginia to Massachusetts have announced plans to procure 22,000MW of offshore wind power which represents $85 billion in economic and investment opportunity. Bridgeport can play an integral role in both Connecticut and different project opportunities up and down the East Coast, says the company.

The Park City Wind proposal includes options to develop an up to 1,200MW project, which could generation enough electricity to power 600,000 Connecticut homes. Vineyard Wind has proposed hundreds of millions of dollars in investments in Connecticut, including:

Transforming Barnum Landing: Vineyard Wind will partner with McAllister Towing and Transportation to redevelop an 18.3-acre waterfront industrial property in Bridgeport that is currently underutilized and undeveloped.

Constructing an O&M Facility with a 25+ Year Lifetime: Vineyard Wind is also committed to making Bridgeport home to Park City Winds operations and maintenance (O&M) hub for the life of the project.

Vineyard Wind is a joint venture of Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, each of which own 50 percent.

In 2018, the Department selected 304MW from Revolution Wind developed by rsted and Eversource.

With this most recent selection, Connecticut is leading New York (five percent) and Massachusetts (13 percent), with the equivalent of 19 percent of its electric load under contract with offshore wind projects. Rhode Island currently has the equivalent of 25 percent of its electric load committed.

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Vineyard Wind Selected for Connecticut Offshore Wind Project - The Maritime Executive

A humpback whale feeds on a school of fish off Long Island, New York. Migrating whales have increased dramatically in this region in recent decades but they're also facing human challenges. David 'Dee' Delgado/WCS/Ocean Giants/Image taken under NMFS MMPA/ESA Permit no. 18786-04 hide caption

A humpback whale feeds on a school of fish off Long Island, New York. Migrating whales have increased dramatically in this region in recent decades but they're also facing human challenges.

"Tail! Tail!" shouts Dr. Howard Rosenbaum, a marine biologist, before grabbing his crossbow, as we close in on a humpback whale.

Rosenbaum gets into position on the bow of the boat, stands firmly with legs apart, takes aim, and fires at the 40-foot cetacean. The arrow that he releases doesn't have a point it has a hollow 2-inch tip to collect skin and blubber, and a cork-like stopper to prevent it from penetrating too deeply.

"Oh, yeah!" come shouts from the small research crew. The hit looks clean. Sure enough, when they scoop the floating arrow out of the water, its tip is filled with a small white sliver of whale flesh, containing DNA that will help identify the humpback and its pod and potentially say something about its migratory patterns.

This is the sort of research that Rosenbaum, the director of the Wildlife Conservation Society's "Ocean Giants" program, has been doing for decades around the globe. Recently, though, whale monitoring has taken on a new urgency in Rosenbaum's own native habitat the Atlantic waters off New York City and Long Island.

A pointless arrow tip, shot by crossbow into a humpback whale, captures skin and blubber for DNA testing. David 'Dee' Delgado/WCS/Ocean Giants/Image taken under NMFS MMPA/ESA Permit no. 18786-04 hide caption

A pointless arrow tip, shot by crossbow into a humpback whale, captures skin and blubber for DNA testing.

As whale populations have grown, the WCS and its collaborator, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, have been monitoring them, with an eye toward mediating conflicts with the ocean's heaviest users: cargo ships, commercial fishing trawlers and the U.S. military.

Now, the whales are poised to get many new, potentially disruptive neighbors: hundreds of skyscraper-high wind turbines, rising from the ocean floor.

The New York Energy Research and Development Authority has awarded two large contracts for offshore wind and anticipates several more in the coming years. The first phase, expected to be complete by 2024, involves dozens of wind turbines in two different offshore plots, leased by energy companies from the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. They would generate 1700 megawatts enough to power more than one million homes.

These would be the largest offshore wind farms in North America and among the largest in the world. Subsequent phases are slated to build hundreds of turbines to generate 9,000 megawatts by 2035.

Rosenbaum's mission is to share information about the whales, in particular their feeding and migratory patterns, with regulators and the energy developer, a Norwegian multinational corporation called Equinor, and together craft strategies to mitigate damage to the whales' habitat.

"Everyone is interested in the benefits of renewable energy and what that does for our climate and for society," Rosenbaum says, as the boat motors to Equinor's lease area, an 80,000-acre triangle 20 miles south of Queens and Nassau County. "We also want to protect the wildlife and these habitats.'

Equinor is primarily a fossil fuel developer, drilling for oil and natural gas around the globe. A spokeswoman for the company's North American operation says the company has a "zero harm mandate" when it comes to extracting natural resources which they hope to exceed in this project.

Environmentalists are naturally skeptical of such energy producers, but the major groups in the region believe the risks posed by climate change, to ocean life and all life, are so vast that they justify whatever risks to local habitat might come from offshore wind farms. They're hopeful the trade-offs will be minimal.

"It's possible to harmonize protections for marine life with ambitious efforts to fight the climate crisis," says Francine Kershaw, from the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Catherine Bowes, from the National Wildlife Federation, praises Equinor for committing to a new construction technology that will lower enormous prefabricated cement foundations for the wind turbines, rather than pile-driving into bedrock to hold the 850-foot-tall steel towers in place.

Whales are extremely sensitive to noise, she says, so avoiding the extremely noisy process of pile-driving is a big step.

"These 'gravity foundations' are a really exciting technology that could change how everyone puts up turbines," says Bowes, who is a member of the Environmental Working Group overseeing New York's two projects. "They could potentially take one really large threat to whales off the table."

But Bowes would also like to see Equinor and the other company that won a New York contract, the Danish corporation Orsted, put into writing strict commitments comparable to one made recently by a Massachusetts developer, Vineyard Wind, especially on how they manage their boats during construction and then later, during the multi-decade-long operational period.

"Ship strikes are the single greatest risk to whales," she says. "We need to get all developers to commit to actively monitoring for whales and to reducing ship speeds to avoid hitting the animals."

In one study, NOAA estimated that 37 whales were killed by boat strikes between 2010 and 2014, from the Gulf of Mexico up the Atlantic coast to Canada, but more recent monitoring by the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society found roughly that many whales killed by boats in a two-year period off New York alone.

"We believe we can actually be part of the solution here in bringing back whales and improving the whole ecosystem," says Julia Bovey, Equinor's director of external affairs in New York. "The data Howard and his team are collecting can make a massive difference in how we affect the marine environment."

Equinor is underwriting much of the research. The company declined to say how much it is spending, but Rosenbaum estimates that two sophisticated buoys they will soon deploy will cost "hundreds of thousands of dollars." These "near-real-time acoustic monitors" record whale calls and relay them to on-shore scientists via satellite.

Howard Rosenbaum, from the Wildlife Conservation Society, keeps an eye out for whales while a special high-tech buoy 'listens' for their calls. David 'Dee' Delgado/WCS/Ocean Giants/Image taken under NMFS MMPA/ESA Permit no. 18786-04 hide caption

Howard Rosenbaum, from the Wildlife Conservation Society, keeps an eye out for whales while a special high-tech buoy 'listens' for their calls.

"We need to be able to stop construction when the whales are in the area and be able to construct responsibly when they're not there, and the information from these buoys will be crucial," Bovey says.

While all whales are considered vulnerable, the North Atlantic Right Whale is among the most endangered animals on earth. There are only about 400 of them, according to the latest research by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

There are two sets of dangers to whales that Rosenbaum hopes the data he's collecting will mitigate. The first is ship strikes during the construction period. The other is the long-term danger the massive underwater structures and the transmission cables might pose to the whales. That is largely unknown, as whales do not migrate through the massive offshore wind farms in Europe.

"Does it create better foraging areas for whales? Does it disturb an area they might use?" Rosenbaum wonders aloud. "I think these are all questions that are all going to be borne out in the years to come."

The wind farm project predates a massive greenhouse gas reduction package the state government passed earlier this year, but it has become a centerpiece of what Gov. Andrew Cuomo is calling New York's 'Green New Deal.' The legislation calls for 100% renewable energy by 2040, with a plan for reaching that goal to be mapped out in the next two years.

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Offshore Wind May Help The Planet But Will It Hurt Whales? - NPR

Closed-door settlement talks to finalize terms for a contested offshore wind-farm cable in East Hampton have accelerated in the past month, even as opponents of the likely landing site in Wainscott mount a counteroffensive.

Negotiations have centered on increasing a community benefits package from its initial $8.5 million and addressing concerns about commercial fishing, construction and environmental issues. All are expected to be addressed before the Town of East Hampton and the separate East Hampton Town trustees, who manage the towns common lands, give final approval for needed road permits for the site on Beach Lane in Wainscott, officials said. Specific terms are confidential, they said.

East Hampton Town hadalready given a tentative nod to the Wainscott landing site a year ago, but the project has increased in size and the state Public Service Commission, which will ultimately approve the cable route, has held hearings on the matter. Now, town officials say, talks to finalize needed permits with the town are active.

The movement [of settlement talks] is likely to accelerate, East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said last week, adding the recent election provided him and the town board with a larger electoral mandate and greater confidence that this is what the public wants and theyll be much more willing to move forward with this to resolve any outstanding issues.

If the town and trustees ultimately move to approve a benefits package and road permits for the shortest land route for the cable in Wainscott, there are signs that influential neighbors in that community who oppose the Beach Lane route will take action to stop it.

All options are on the table, said Mike McKeon, a spokesman for Waintscott neighbors, some 1,700 of whom signed a petition to reject Wainscotts Beach Lane as the cable route.

Locals say the Wainscott group may have a war chest of upward of $1 million to battle the cable landing site, and that litigation, if pursued, could tie up issuance of permits for months or more.

"By their actions, they [Orsted] have practically begged residents to sue if they don't like their subscale project," McKeon said. "Orsted won't be disappointed."

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Approval for the cable landing site is one of numerous items developer Orsted needs to complete the project for LIPA by the end of 2022. Last year, an official for the former Deepwater Wind, which was acquired by Orsted, had said the company hoped to have the cable landing site locally approved by July 2018.

Were trying to put something together in the very near future, said Francis Bock, clerk of the East Hampton town trustees, which must approve the location if its at Beach Lane, a prospect trustees favor. Wainscott is the preferred landing site for the trustees and the town. We own that and thats whats keeping us in the negotiations.

One of the bigissues for locals is possible disturbance of theWainscott beach. "It's the iconic Hamptons beach," said Richard DeRose, whowalked his dog there one afternoon last week. Like others in Wainscott, he supports offshore wind, but "if I had my druthers I'd rather see the cable landing in Montauk."

Late last week a group calling itself Citizens for the Preservation of Waintscott began running online ads attacking the South Fork wind project overall, noting Orsted is a "foreign company" that got a "sweetheart deal" to produce energy that will "the most expensive in the state." The online petition, at truthaboutorsted.com, urges the state Public Service Commission to "reject this deal."

But other organizationssuch as citizens' group Montauk United and Win With Wind, a green-energy advocacy group in East Hampton, say Wainscott is the shortest, most direct route with the least impact on the environment and commercial districts.

Common sense seems to be prevailing, said Judith Hope, a former town supervisor and founder of Win With Wind. Even though the good people of Wainscott have mounted a ferocious opposition. It seems to me the preferred site remains the preferred site, in Wainscott.

Hope said its now time forthe town to finalizean agreement. It would be a great help in moving the project forward, she said. It would be a great help if theyd negotiate terms under which theyd allow the developer to lay the cable along a town road. Its one simple procedure.

An Orsted spokeswoman declined to comment, but Jennifer Garvey, Long Island development manager for Orsted Wind, said at a forum in Woodbury Friday that community opposition is part of every large building project, not just wind farms.

Theres no such thing as a project without opposition, she said.

Sometimes, we face NIMBY-style opposition: Hey, cant you just take this project elsewhere?'" she continued. "We cant do that anymore. We worked hard to find the best places to land our cables. We do count on the communities to help us get these [projects] over the finish line because these are [climate] goals we want to achieve together.

With James T. Madore

Mark Harrington, an 18-year Newsday veteran, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.

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Talks accelerate on East Hampton cable for wind farm - Newsday

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For its adherents, the benefits of offshore wind are self-evident: abundant, clean, emission-free power.

But for supporters of a new development off the Eastern seaboard billed as the first utility-scale offshore wind project in the US progress to make their vision a reality has been frustratingly unforthcoming.

In August, it was announced that Vineyard Wind which had been scheduled to start construction off the coast of Massachusetts later this year had been put on hold, pending a federal environmental review supported by the Interior Department.

The agencys decision means Vineyard Winds original aim to construct 84 giant turbines, 14 miles off the states coast, able to generate enough electricity to power 400,000 homes by 2022 now hangs in the balance.

The reason behind the Interior Departments slow-walk is due to concerns around the projects impact on the local fishing industry. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) claims the windfarms design, as it stands, would encroach on species and commercial fishing operations in the Atlantic waters.

Thus, the NMFS has informed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the agency responsible for offshore wind projects, that it wont sign off on the project until it is satisfied suitable changes have been incorporated.

Having already secured contracts with Massachusetts electric utilities, the companies behind Vineyard Wind Spanish-owned Avangrid Inc and Denmarks Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners are unamused by this interagency scrimmage. The developer claims the wait for an environmental permit would jeopardise the projects timeline.

It is not the first time a major offshore wind project off the Massachusetts shoreline has been met with the thumbs down. Vineyard Wind is preceded by Cape Wind, which, back in 2001, promised to be the countrys first offshore wind farm, situated in Nantucket Sounds, some five miles off the coast.

However, a 16-year-long culmination of financial setbacks and political and personal opposition local, well-heeled residents, including industrialist Bill Koch and Senator Edward Kennedy, were amongst its loudest critics saw the project finally give up the ghost in 2017.

Its easy to draw parallels between Vineyard Wind and Cape Wind. That said, appetite for offshore wind development in the US is much greater now than it was at the start of the millennium. The Interior Department is said to be considering auctioning more offshore wind leases to New York and California, while New Jersey has set 1200MW solicitations for next year and 2022.

Such enthusiasm, though, is yet to translate into the construction of any tangible large-scale offshore wind infrastructure. In contrast to the boom of inland turbines in recent years the US has the worlds second largest onshore wind power capacity behind China there is only one small offshore wind farm in the country, situated near Block Island, Rhode Island. It went online in 2016.

However, offshore wind experts believe it is only a matter of time before the industry will begin to catch up.

Currently, eight states, from Maine to Virginia, have committed to their utilities procuring 22.5GW of offshore wind from now through to 2035, says Stephanie McClellan, a researcher and director of the Special Initiative on Offshore Wind at the University of Delaware.

That is equivalent to the entire global installed capacity at the end of 2018, and is just the tip of the iceberg. As the cost of offshore wind continues to fall and the US supply chain matures, the industry is set for continued market growth well beyond initial state policy commitments.

For McClellan, once the first utility-scale projects see the light of day, others will follow in quick succession which she likens to a blast cap. Liz Burdock, president of the Business Network for Offshore Wind also believes that the US offshore wind energy market is expanding every day, but there are caveats for growth.

In order to keep the industrys momentum, we need to focus on certain key issues and policies, she says. That means expanded training programmes to build the skilled labour force we will need, as well as greater investments in ports to support both installation and offshore wind component manufacturing.

There also needs to be increased outreach with science-based research to the commercial fishing industry, so that offshore wind may proceed smoothly without the added cost and time delays from lawsuits.

Such ardour for offshore wind does not extend to the White House. President Trump was vocal in his criticism of the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre in Aberdeen Bay situated close to one of his golf courses which he accused of creating an eyesore and denting tourism.

Offshore wind also runs counter to the Presidents attempt to revive fossil fuels in the US a theme on which he campaigned during the 2016 election. However, according to Timothy Fox, a vice president with the Washington research firm ClearView Energy Partners, this hasnt necessarily dampened wind deployment targets at state level.

The economics of offshore wind compared to other renewable resources in the US suggest its domestic deployment may remain state-policy driven, he says. We also dont think the Trump Administration opposes offshore wind, but we think it is prioritising its efforts toward other resources.

We project East Coast states to deploy between 5,000 8,000MW of offshore wind by 2025, representing a significant uptick from the current deployment of 30MW.

Nonetheless, Fox is circumspect when it comes to certain areas. He believes the BOEMs decision to delay its permit for Vineyard Wind has raised uncertainty and risk for project developers and their investors. He also believes comparisons between the US and Europe which now has a total installed offshore wind capacity of over 18,000MW to be overly ambitious.

European nations have experience and established supply chains for offshore wind, he says. They are also deploying the resource at a faster clip than the US. Offshore wind deployment here is unlikely to rival Europe soon.

Burdock is more optimistic. In her eyes, US demand for offshore wind-generated electricity is growing on both coasts and could soon surpass that of Europe.

We see almost limitless opportunity for the US offshore wind industry, she says. Offshore wind is now a global industry, and it is clear that the US pipeline of projects with secure off-take agreements is equivalent to all that Europe has installed over the past 30 years.

We believe that the US experience in offshore oil drilling, onshore wind, big data and artificial intelligence will allow the offshore wind industry to make giant steps forward once it starts getting steel in the water here.

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Vineyard Wind: delayed project reveals bluster in US's offshore wind ambitions - Power Technology

LONDON (Reuters) - The chief executive of Brazilian state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) said on Friday he wants to sell the companys stake in petrochemical company Braskem SA within a year.

FILE PHOTO: A logo of Brazil's state-run Petrobras oil company is seen at their headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil October 16, 2019. REUTERS/Sergio Moraes

At the London leg of an international investor roadshow, top Petrobras officials presented plans to sell tens of billions of dollars in assets to reduce a hefty debt load.

However, creditors of corruption-ensnared construction conglomerate Odebrecht SA, which also has a large stake in Braskem, are in advanced talks to delay the sale of the crown jewel asset for another two to three years, Reuters reported on Monday.

Its a very long period of time to sell a company, Petrobas CEO Roberto Castello Branco said during the meeting with investors in London. We understood this as a signal of someone who at the end of the day doesnt want to sell anything.

Branco also said that the process by which Brazil offers offshore oil blocks must be refined, with the current bidding system allowing Petrobas a privileged position.

Last month, no major global oil firms committed to participate in an auction for the blocks in a major blow to the South American exporters ambitions to develop the sector.

Its very important to have a significant change...toward the adoption of a more pro-market (regulatory) regime, eliminating all the complexities which at the end of the day reduce the attractiveness of Brazil, Branco said.

Asked if the firm would make a pledge similar to that from Spains Repsol to slash net carbon emissions to zero by the middle of the century, Branco told reporters: Its too early ... each company has its own views.

Petrobras refining and natural gas chief Anelise Lara said the company had completed a feasibility study with Chinas CNPC over refining operations in Rio de Janeiro.

She added that Petrobras was also looking to reduce the amount of gas it imports via a Bolivia-Brazil pipeline from a contracted 30 million cubic meters per day to 15 million following discussions with Brazils anti-trust regulator.

Petrobras agreed a deal with the regulator earlier this year to foster competition in gas imports and encourage new participants in the market.

Reporting by Noah Browning, editing by Louise Heavens and Kirsten Donovan

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Petrobras seeks swift sale of Braskem, smoother offshore auction process - Reuters

(Reuters) - Chinas telecoms giant Huawei has been encouraging its suppliers to violate U.S. law by telling them to move operations offshore in a bid to avoid U.S. sanctions, Commerce Department Secretary Wilbur Ross told Reuters on Tuesday.

FILE PHOTO: An attendee wears a badge strip with the logo of Huawei at the World 5G Exhibition in Beijing, China November 22, 2019. REUTERS/Jason Lee/File Photo

In May, the U.S. government placed Huawei Technologies Co Ltd on a trade blacklist known as the entity list, over national security concerns, forcing some suppliers to apply for special licenses to sell equipment to the company.

But the U.S. government has become frustrated by the limitations of the blacklisting to keep overseas suppliers from selling to the company, the worlds largest telecoms equipment supplier, Reuters reported last week.

On Tuesday, Ross said in an interview that those frustrations extended to a push from Huawei to move its supply chain overseas.

Huawei has been openly advocating companies to move their production offshore to get around the fact that we put Huawei on the list, Ross said. Anybody who does move the product out specifically to avoid the sanction... thats a violation of U.S. law. So here you have Huawei encouraging American suppliers to violate the law, he added.

Huawei spokesman Rob Manfredo declined to comment.

Reuters reported last week that the U.S. government may expand its power to stop more foreign shipments of products with U.S. technology to Huawei, by broadening the reach of two key rules to capture more products.

One of those regulations, known as the De minimis Rule, dictates how much U.S. content in a foreign-made product gives the U.S. government authority to block an export. Currently the de minimis threshold for China is set at 25%, meaning that if American content constitutes more than a quarter of the value of the item, U.S. rules apply to its export to China.

Ross declined to say whether such rule changes were imminent. However, he said Huaweis advocacy of suppliers moving offshore has flagged an issue weve been starting to deal with, that is, whether the 25% threshold is right for China.

Whether 25% is forever and all time the right ratio, thats something to be resolved, Ross said, adding that the agency was always considering such moves.

Additional Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Sanders and Edward Tobin

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Huawei urging suppliers to break the law by moving offshore: Ross - Reuters

CONCORD, N.H. New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu has signed an executive order preparing the state for future offshore wind development.

The order signed Tuesday establishes four advisory boards focused on fisheries and endangered species, workforce and economic development, offshore industries and infrastructure.

New Hampshire recognizes the tremendous potential that offshore wind power has to offer, Sununu said in a statement. With todays executive order, New Hampshire will ensure that this is an open and transparent process involving diverse stakeholders to balance existing offshore uses with a new source of clean energy.

The boards will report to a a Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Offshore Renewable Task Force, which has its first meeting Dec. 12 at the University of New Hampshire.

The order also instructs several government agencies to study and report on greenhouse gas reduction potential of offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine and opportunities for New Hampshire to attract offshore wind supply chain operations.

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New Hampshire governor signs order to prepare for offshore wind development - Press Herald