Category Archives: Offshore

Should You Be Adding SBM Offshore (AMS:SBMO) To Your Watchlist Today?  Simply Wall St

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Should You Be Adding SBM Offshore (AMS:SBMO) To Your Watchlist Today? - Simply Wall St

Australia is poised to be a world leader in offshore wind, but any potential risks to marine life remain poorly regulated  The Conversation Australia & New Zealand

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Australia is poised to be a world leader in offshore wind, but any potential risks to marine life remain poorly regulated - The Conversation Australia...

1. Biden-Harris Administration Announces First-Ever Offshore Wind Lease Sale in the Pacific  US Department of the Interior
2. BOEM to hold California offshore wind lease sale with 4.5 GW potential in December  Utility Dive
3. Governor Newsom Applauds Biden-Harris Administration on First-Ever Offshore Wind Lease Sale in the Pacific | California Governor  Office of Governor Gavin Newsom
4. US Interior Dept. Pokes Sleeping Offshore Wind Giant As Renewables Take Charge  CleanTechnica
5. U.S. to Hold First Pacific Offshore Wind Sale  EcoWatch
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Biden-Harris Administration Announces First-Ever Offshore Wind Lease Sale in the Pacific - US Department of the Interior

DUBAI, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi National Oil Company [RIC:RIC:ADNOC.UL] awarded a contract worth $980 million to ADNOC Drilling (ADNOCDRILL.AD) to hire two jack-up offshore rigs, the company said on Thursday.

The award will support the expansion of ADNOC's production capacity as it responds to the growing global demand for lower carbon-intensity oil and gas, the company added.

ADNOC's offshore operations are supporting the company's goal to increase production capacity to five million barrels per day (mbpd) by 2030 and enable gas self-sufficiency for the United Arab Emirates, ADNOC said.

ADNOC Drilling is critical to delivering on ADNOC's strategic objectives, the statement added.

Including the contract announced on Thursday, ADNOC Drilling's awards from ADNOC Offshore in 2022 stand at $5.95 billion.

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Reporting by Maha El Dahan, writing by Lina Najem; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Uttaresh.V

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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UAE's ADNOC Drilling secures $980 mln contract to hire offshore rigs - Reuters

GAZA/CAIRO, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Egypt is aiming to take over development of Gaza's offshore natural gas field, Egyptian and Palestinian officials said, in what would be a boost for the cash-strapped Palestinian economy.

While Egypt and Israel have been producing gas in the eastern Mediterranean for years, the Gaza Marine field, about 30 km (20 miles) off the Gaza coast, has remained undeveloped due to political disputes and conflict with Israel, as well as economic factors.

The project was last in the hands of oil major Shell (SHEL.L), which gave up its stake in 2018. The Palestinians have been looking for a new foreign group to take over. Palestinian companies would keep at least 55% of the shares, according to a cabinet decision at the time.

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Egypts state-owned gas company EGAS began talks last year with the Palestine Investment Fund PIF and the Consolidated Contractors Company CCC, a coalition of companies that are licensed to develop the field, officials said.

An Egyptian intelligence official told Reuters in Cairo EGAS, in cooperation with Palestinian authorities, will develop the offshore field.

The Egyptian security official, who asked not to be named, said Cairo has been in negotiations for about two months with Israel, which together with Egypt maintains a blockade on Gaza and would likely have to green light the project.

Egypts petroleum ministry did not respond to a request for comment, and EGAS could not immediately be reached.

Israel's energy ministry, asked about development of the field, said it was not aware that any decision had been made.

Israel has said in the past it supports the fields development.

These talks are progressing positively. Once a detailed and final agreement is reached, it will be announced after obtaining the official approvals according to the established rules, said one Palestinian official familiar with the talks with the Egyptians.

The Gaza Strip is run by the Islamist group. Most of its 2.3 million residents live in poverty and it suffers from rolling blackouts. Gas from Gaza Marine would help fuel the coastal strip's power plants and kickstart the economy.

A second Palestinian official said Cairo has also been in contact with Hamas officials to secure their approval.

"Cairo's strategic role as a mediator between Israel and the Palestinians over decades makes talks easier," the official told Reuters.

"Development may take time to start once an agreement is concluded. The project would be a vital tool to improve Palestinian economy," he added.

Gaza Marine is estimated to hold over 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, much more than is needed to power the Palestinian territories and could potentially be exported.

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Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Ahmed Mohamed Hassan in Cairo; Writing by Nidal AlmughrabiEditing by Marguerita Choy

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Thomson Reuters

A senior correspondent with nearly 25 years experience covering the Palestinian-Israeli conflict including several wars and the signing of the first historic peace accord between the two sides.

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Egypt is set to take part in developing Gaza's offshore gas field -officials - Reuters

On The Carbon Copy podcast thisweek:

Producer Alexandria Herr takes atrip to Sunset Park, Brooklyn and gets apeek into the future. What is now an empty stretch of concrete sandwiched between aCostco and the Upper New York Harbor will soon be transformed into ahub of green industry: afacility to assemble offshore wind turbines.

Norwegian energy giant Equinor has designated the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal as the future hub of its offshore wind operations in the U.S. Community leaders in Sunset Park, aneighborhood that has long faced amultitude of environmental-justice issues, are hoping the project will bring workforce development and green energy jobs to the community.

Canary journalist Maria Gallucci brings us her reporting on the project in Sunset Park and how it might be amodel for how communities facing environmental-justice issues can lead the green industries of the future. Read her story.

The Carbon Copy is aco-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.

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From empty concrete to offshore wind hub - Canary Media

The total global pipeline of floating offshore wind projects has more than doubled in the past 12 months in terms of capacity, from 91 gigawatts (GW) to 185 GW.

Thats according to a new report published today by RenewableUK, a trade association for the wind power, wave power, and tidal power industries in the UK.

The number of projects has increased globally during that time period from 130 to 230. The pipeline includes projects at any stage: operational, under construction, approved, in the planning system, or at an early development stage.

Within the global 185 GW pipeline, 121 MW are fullycommissioned over nine projects in seven countries. Ninety-six MW are under construction,288 MW are consented or in the pre-construction phase, 31 GW are inplanning or has a lease agreement, and153 GW are in early development or is in the leasing process.

When it comes to floating offshore wind total portfolios by country, the UK is in the lead. Its pipeline has increased from 23 GW a year ago to over 33 GW, and from 29 projects to 51, which are being developed in the North Sea (Scottish and English waters), the Celtic Sea, and the North Atlantic Ocean.

One hundred seven GW (58%) of floating offshore wind capacity is being developed inEurope, and 33.3 GW (18%) of the global floating portfolio is in the UK, of which29 GW is in Scottish waters.

Outside of Europe, leasing areas off the US West Coast, projectproposals off Australias southeast coast, and South Korea make upthe majority ofthe rest of the capacity.

By the end of 2030, floating wind capacity could reach 11 GW in the UK, 31 GW in Europe and 41 GW globally, according to the reports authors.

Read more: California sets the largest offshore wind goal of any state in the US

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Global floating offshore wind pipeline doubles in the last 12 months to 185 GW - Electrek.co

A boat passes through wind turbines stand at the Arkona offshore wind park in the Baltic off the coast of Sassnitz, Germany. Photo by Axel Schmidt/Getty Images.

President Bidens administration laid out ambitious additional goals last month to boost offshore wind power generation, one of the American renewable energy industrys emerging wide open frontiers.

The federal announcements come as coastal states across the country increasingly are setting offshore wind energy targets, seeking to capture not just clean energy but the potentially big economic benefits of their ports serving as hubs for the vessels, blade manufacturing, cables and other infrastructure needed to get turbines that are more than 850 feet tall installed miles out at sea.

But amid news releases touting megawatt targets and jobs, theres been less attention on the challenge of bringing all that electricity ashore and connecting it to a grid that was designed to bring power to the coast, not the other way around.

It is so exciting to see the goals put forward and its a great signal and clear signal to the industry, said Maddy Urbish, head of government affairs and market strategy for New Jersey at rsted North America. The Danish company, a world leader in offshore wind, currently has 5,000 megawatts of projects under development or under construction in U.S. waters, including one of the two projects on tap off the coast of Ocean City.

So thats incredibly encouraging and exciting for the industry. When we get down to the challenges we see from the grid it becomes immediately less sexy, Urbish said.

A sea change

With nearly 95,500 miles of coastline and steady wind resources offshore, developers like rsted see vast potential in the U.S. market. The U.S. Department of Energy has estimated that domestic offshore wind generation potential is roughly equal to double the nations total electric demand. Whats more, about 80% of U.S. electric load is in coastal or Great Lakes states near offshore wind resources.

Weve significantly increased our workforce here in the U.S. and thats in direct response to the potential here, Urbish said. The U.S. is a key market for rsted at this point.

New Jersey just announced a new 11,000 megawatt offshore wind target, the largest in the country. Virginias Dominion Energy is pushing to get its 2,600 megawatt commercial projectfinished by 2026 and the state wants a total of 5,200 megawatts by 2034. Maryland has approved more than 2,000 megawatts of offshore wind capacity. North Carolina has a goal of 8,000 megawatts by 2040.

How power from offshore wind turbines gets to shore. Image courtesy of Dominion Energy.

Massachusetts is contracting for 5,600 megawatts of offshore wind by 2027. Maine says its initial goal of 5,000 megawatts by 2030 is not realistic at this pointbut still considers offshore wind one of our states largest untapped clean energy resources. Louisiana, with a large, skilled offshore oil and gas workforce that is partially repositioning for offshore wind, aims for 5,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2035in its most recent climate plan.

And the new federal Inflation Reduction Act undoes a Trump administration moratorium on federal offshore wind leases in the Southeast, potentially opening up new opportunities for Georgia, the Carolinas and Florida, though the Sunshine States potential is seen as limited because of a lack of strong, sustained winds near the coast.

However, getting all that power to electric consumers will require billions in upgrades to the electric grid and a whole lot better regional planning by states and grid operators, experts say.

Offshore wind is big, said Simon Mahan, executive director of the Southern Renewable Energy Association, a trade group for large renewable energy and energy storage companies. When you bring it ashore its gonna have an effect on nearby generation regardless of market structure. Theyre the size of nuclear reactors. So its really important to do good studies.

A big job

Until fairly recently, renewable energy advocates say theres been less emphasis by policymakers and grid managers on transmission infrastructure upgrades and the comprehensive regional planning needed to make mass offshore wind a reality, though the federal government and states are starting to come to grips with the scope of the problem.

There needs to be a lot more done than whats being done right now and people are starting to realize that, said Walt Musial, principal engineer and offshore wind platform lead at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The integration of this is going to be a big job and something we have to start working on soon. These transmission projects can take longer to build than the plants themselves.

Offshore wind coastal interconnection points identified by PJM in a 2021 study. Image courtesy of PJM Interconnection.

With relatively small, stand-alone wind projects, its often feasible for developers to find their own solutions to interconnection, said Mike Jacobs, a senior analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists who focuses on renewable energy and the electric grid. Indeed, wind developers with projects farther along in the pipeline can take advantage of old thermal generation sites like rsted plans to do with the former B.L. England coal-fired power plant in Upper Township, New Jersey, south of Atlantic City as points of interconnection because of the existing grid infrastructure there.

But with the potential scale of American offshore wind energy and the huge targets proposed by states like New Jersey, project-by-project transmission solutions wont work, Jacobs said.

Now you talk about 1,000 megawatts at a time. And New Jersey wants 10 of those. The transmission needed to be upscaled on shore is significant and needs to reach further inland, he said. The cable you brought to the nearest connection point from water to land is going to run into something thats going to be inadequate and needs to be upscaled.

In Maryland, it isnt clear yet where the electric cables from the two pending offshore wind projects will land onshore though both developers are looking at locations in Delaware to connect the transmission lines to the grid.

Better than nothing

That means billions of dollars in upgrades that will be necessary to accommodate the offshore wind buildout contemplated by state and federal leaders and debates about planning and cost allocation involving regional transmission operators, which run much of the U.S. electric grid. In Virginia, Dominion Energy, the states largest utility, estimates the transmission upgrades required as part of its $10 billion, 2,640 megawatt wind installation will be about 16% to 17% of the total project cost, a company spokesman said.

PJM Interconnection, which runs the electric grid in all or parts of Maryland, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia, estimated that injecting offshore wind generation (it studied scenarios ranging from 6,416 megawatts up to 17,016 megawatts) into the existing onshore transmission system, as well as meeting other renewable energy goals of the states it serves, would require anywhere from $627 million in a short-term scenario to as much as $3.2 billion in long-term scenarios, per a study released last year. That study only examined upgrades that would be necessary to existing infrastructure, not any sea-to-shore or any offshore transmission networks.

They do require a fair amount of upgrades to the traditional land based transmission system, said Ray DePillo, director of development for offshore wind for PSE&G, New Jerseys largest utility. Thats a lot of megawatts to put into a single point or multiple points into the transmission system.

PSE&G has partnered with rsted onCoastal Wind Link, a series of offshore stations that will connect multiple wind farms to the grid at a single onshore point rather than having every offshore wind farm connect using its own cable.

That proposal is among a series of transmission bids New Jerseys Board of Public Utilities will consider under a deal it reached with PJM Interconnection. Generally, PJM would be responsible for planning transmission upgrades and allocating costs to accommodate individual offshore wind generation projects as part of the interconnection process.

But, with a giant backlog in PJMs interconnection queue driven by a flood of new renewable projects and an interconnection review overhaul underway, New Jersey and PJM negotiated the State Agreement Approach, which enables a state, or group of states, to propose a project to assist in realizing state public policy requirements as long as the state (or states) agrees to pay all costs of any state-selected build-out. PJM, in turn, has run a solicitation for transmission bids on the states behalf in coordination with the N.J. Board of Public Utilities. It received more than 80 proposals ranging in cost from $1.2 billion to more than $7 billion, depending on various scenarios, PJM said, though those costs dont necessarily include onshore upgrades. The board will ultimately decide what gets built.

New Jersey came to realize that if they wanted to do this large and fast they had to take the matter into hand, Jacobs said.

In short, New Jersey ratepayers will shoulder the cost of the transmission upgrades themselves, even though those grid improvements may have broader benefits for reliability beyond the states borders.

This is a good news and bad news story, Jacobs said. The benefits from New Jersey doing this will flow beyond New Jersey. What were doing is having the states fill a gap that was not expected and should not need to be done.

Rob Gramlich, founder and president of Grid Strategies, a consulting firm, called the solution highly suboptimal.

But I agree with New Jersey that although its suboptimal its better than nothing, he said.

At the heart of the friction is the traditional guiding principle of interconnection, that new generators should pay for the transmission upgrades necessary to connect them to the grid because grid managers like PJM havent generally looked for broader benefits to the system, critics say.

That model was tolerable when the new generators were large gas power plants that could be sited close to existing interconnection points and high voltage lines, but not so much now with hundreds of smaller, more diffuse solar and wind projects that are trying to connect to the grid, Gramlich added.

The flaws of that system are now quite evident to everybody, he said.

Tackling transmission

A new proposed rule by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission aims to better quantify the broader benefits of transmission upgrades, which some renewable energy proponents say could grease the wheels for the buildout required to decarbonize the grid. And the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act includes $100 million specifically earmarked for offshore wind transmission planning, modeling and analysis.

The fact of the matter is we need more studies, we dont know what we dont know, said Mahan of the Southern Renewable Energy Association. The IRA funding is there to help solve some of this problem.

There are ongoing studies as well.

Image courtesy of National Renewable Energy Laboratory via the U.S. Department of Energy.

Melinda Marquis, offshore wind grid integration lead at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, is leading a Department of Energy study, expected to be finished next year, that will identify the optimal interconnection points along the Atlantic coast. Its one of several seeking answers to how best to incorporate offshore wind into the grid, Marquis said, and states like New York, which is pushing for 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2035, have done their own studies.

The way offshore has been deployed in the North Sea, in England for instance, is the same way the very early offshore wind plants in the U.S. are developing. That is where each offshore wind plant builds one radial connection to shore. So each developer is picking the cheapest, best place to inject the power, Marquis said. Theres a limited number of points of interconnection along the Atlantic.

Right now, there arent many incentives for developers to share interconnection and transmission infrastructure, Marquis said. Her groups study will quantify costs under various build-out scenarios, compare different transmission technologies, explore implications for grid reliability and examine effects on marine life and fisheries.

The ocean is really a pretty crowded place, she said, adding that the study is incorporating data on marine sanctuaries, national wildlife refuges, reefs, sea floor sediment, shipping lanes, fishing grounds and military areas, among others.

We hope that the results of our study will be very helpful for the people who make decisions about the way transmission is expanded, how it is built, and we hope this will lead to a very resilient, reliable grid, with a very low cost to the ratepayer that minimizes impact on marine species and the marine environment, Marquis said.

She noted that representatives from major U.S. utilities and grid operators are participating in the study.

The Department of Energy really understands this and theyre funding us to tackle this, she said.

All of the above

Meanwhile, similar to New Jersey, other states are realizing the importance of taking the lead on transmission planning. New York wants offshore wind projects connecting to shore to be meshed ready, which means being able to share sea-to-shore connection infrastructure among different offshore wind plants rather than each one having a separate connection to shore. PJM says its talking with other states about how to upgrade transmission to meet their energy goals.

We have had exploratory discussions with our states to pursue similar goals like NJ but nothing formalized yet, Ken Seiler, vice president of planning, said last month, adding that the grid operator is at work on the second phase of a regional wind study meant to identify regional transmission solutions to offshore wind and all other renewable portfolio development planned for by the states.

PJMs counterpart in the middle of the country, MISO, which covers an area stretching from Minnesota to Louisiana, says its transmission planning has been all land-based and there are no offshore wind projects in its interconnection queue.

However MISO is equipped to study and evaluate any offshore projects that may be submitted in the future, Brandon Morris, a spokesman for the organization, said.

And last month, five New England states issued a joint request for information seeking comments from offshore wind developers, the electric transmission industry and others regarding changes and upgrades to the regional electric transmission system needed to integrate renewable energy resources, including but not limited to offshore wind resources, as well as significant other new renewable resources into the grid.

I think this happens with all of the above, to use an energy cliche, said Jacobs. We will have some of the developers go ahead because theyre impatient and find the opportunities to build their own connections. We will have an institutional approach where we get the federal government and the regional operators to do what they are mandated already to do which is plan for a reliable, consumer friendly open access system. All this will happen because the states will present a credible threat to these institutions that are supposed to be doing it in the first place.

Josh Kurtz contributed to this report.

Editors note: This story has been updated to clarify the costs of upgrading the PJM transmission system to accommodate offshore wind as identified in a 2021 report by the grid operator. The cost estimates included other renewable energy goals by states, not just offshore wind.

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For offshore wind aspirations to become reality, transmission hurdles must be cleared - Maryland Matters

Danish offshore wind construction company Cadeler has secured a second contract for its new F-class jack-up vessel that will keep the vessel employed through 2030.

The 4-year contract was signed with an undisclosed customer and is set to commence in 2027. If all options are exercised, the contract could be worth 330 million euros.

Cadelers new F-class is interesting because its designed to convert from a foundation installation vessel to a wind turbine generator installation vessel with relative ease and minimal downtime. The vessel was ordered in May from COSCO Heavy Industries for approximately $345 million with delivery planned in the fourth quarter of 2025.

The new F-Class vessel has already been booked for its first gig installing turbine foundations at the Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm off the east coast of the UK beginning in 2026.

Cadeler is also building two similarly-specd X-class vessels to be delivered by COSCO Heavy Industries in the second half of 2024 and first quarter of 2025.

Both the X-class and F-class vessels will be able to transport and install seven complete 15 megawatt (MW) turbine sets per load or five sets of 20+ MW turbines. The F-class can also transport up to six XL monopiles per round-trip.

We are very happy that we have secured a long-term utilization of our state-of-the-art F-class vessel until 2030, said Mikkel Gleerup, CEO of Cadeler A/S. This is a clear testimony that our vessels are a good fit for the market, in high demand and that Cadeler is a valued business partner to our clients. We are looking forward to putting our new hybrid vessel to good use in the next years while executing projects in collaboration with our business partners.

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Cadeler's New F-Class Offshore Wind Installation Vessel Booked to 2030 - gCaptain

Imagine youre going into a pitch meeting to outline a proposal that could put your prospective client years ahead in its industry and be worth millions in consulting and development fees for your own firm.

Its a cant miss project, you tell the client. Once its up and running, you can enjoy not only market dominance but a favorable reputation as you lock in healthy, long-term revenues off a readily available but scarcely exploited commodity.

Great, the client exclaims. So lets figure out some reasonable performance metrics.

The room falls silent. You could hear a gnat burp. Slack-jawed stares from your side of the conference table toward the prospective customers on the other side of it.

Pardon me? you stutter incredulously. You actually want us to say in writing what were going to do and then be held accountable on how well we actually do it? You cant be serious.

Now imagine how quickly that meeting and the deal would collapse.

Thats not dissimilar from the position that Dominion, Virginias dominant electric power utility is taking with the State Corporation Commissions attachment of a performance standard to the companys $9.8 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project.

Its Dominion insisting on a heads-I-win,-tails-you-lose approach to its ballyhooed green energy initiative. It involves anchoring 850-feet-tall wind turbines to the sea floor miles off the Virginia coast. The steady sea winds would turn the turbines and generate electricity that is fed through cables along the ocean floor onto land and the nations increasingly hungry power grid.

If the build-out goes smoothly and the project is wildly successful, then Dominion shareholders profit. But without the performance agreement, if things go south, the ratepayers, not the shareholders, will cover the utilitys bad bet.

Downside risk? Thats for suckers.

Such a tactic would be a nonstarter in the normal course of business. But remarkably, it might just work for a too-big-to-fail utility once accustomed to throwing its weight around and getting its way with government. Whether it flies this time is for the SCC to decide.

The SCC holds sweeping regulatory authority over a number of companies and industries that serve essential public functions in Virginia, including utilities. It imposed the performance standard as a condition of approving Dominions CVOW project in August. The standard requires the utility, not its customers, to cover the cost of buying replacement energy should the wind farm not produce enough electricity over time.

Va. regulators to rule on whether offshore wind performance requirement should stay

Dominion is having none of it. The utility asked the SCC to reconsider the standard, citing untenable costs. As the Mercurys Charlie Paullin reported a week ago, Dominions most recent argument to the SCC came after several environmental groups, the office of Attorney General Jason Miyares and the planets largest retailer, Walmart, argued for the performance standard to stay in place.

In fairness, theres a whole lot more involved in turning sea winds into megawatts than appearances may suggest. As former Mercury editor Robert Zullo explained in a story last week, pumping the extra current generated at sea into the grid is no plug-and-play operation. Major reconfigurations on land that will cost many billions of dollars have to be made to handle and distribute the power coming into the system from offshore wind farms.

Dominion also rightly notes natural and human-made vulnerabilities to offshore wind generating and transmission capabilities. There are also future public policy and market conditions that can affect the bottom line.

In a statement to the Mercury for this column, Dominion said the SCCs accountability measure creates an unprecedented layer of financial one-way risk to DEV (Dominion Energy Virginia). And it is inconsistent with the utility risk profile expected by our investors.

Theres the tell: investors.

Dominion is a private business obligated to its investors. I probably have a little Dominion stock in my portfolio. So I hope all of us investors fare well. Dominion and its shareholders have experienced both ups and downs in the past few years. Who hasnt? Thats part of investing.

But Dominion is also a regulated public utility that receives significant governmental protections many companies can never enjoy because it exists to fulfill an essential public need, namely supplying households and businesses with electrical power, something it generally does pretty well.

The customers who Dominion serves and who pay its ever-higher bills face risk profiles every day from which they cant indemnify themselves. There was no magic cloak government could confer to shield them from the human and financial ravages the coronavirus pandemic wrought over the past two and a half years.

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership reported in December 2020 that one-fourth of the commonwealths businesses had closed permanently or temporarily because of the pandemic. From early April through New Years Eve of that year, COVID-19 killed nearly 5,100 Virginians, according to Virginia Department of Health data.

And we recall all too painfully the resulting tsunami of job losses and financial one-way risk to families that was aggravated by the Virginia Employment Commissions inability to cope with record numbers of claims for unemployment benefits from 2020 well into this year.

There was no state safety net for the bend-but-dont-break health care system that was stressed beyond its limits by the critically ill who flooded Virginias hospitals and created staggering death tolls for already frail nursing home residents. In the early weeks of the pandemic, the government wasnt even able to procure sufficient basic personal protective equipment such as face coverings and gloves for health care professionals. For many, it was too much, and it drove them into other fields or into retirement. Some even found unemployment preferable to the daily horror and heartbreak of their jobs. The talent drain remains a significant problem for the industry.

Yet Virginia is expected to mitigate the pain for Dominions investors at ratepayers expense if its venture into the renewable energy space encounters choppy seas?

Dominions statement also notes that the varied risks and problems that confront its new venture come at a time when fuel costs have increased dramatically.

Tell us about it. We fill our tanks with gasoline and diesel, buy heating oil and pay your monthly bills. It wasnt that long ago that a gallon of regular unleaded approached $5 in many parts of Virginia. It eased a bit over the summer, but OPECs extortionate move last week to cut production has reversed that.

The statement continues by saying that with other prices rising, that leaves renewable energy as one of the few ways to alleviate inflationary pressures on electricity prices.

Thats sensible and laudable. But it still doesnt entitle Dominion to insist on an all-profit, no-risk approach to bringing green energy to the market devoid of measurable performance benchmarks.

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Dominion wants offshore wind profits, but performance metrics? Not so much. - Virginia Mercury