Category Archives: Offshore

By 2023 the first commercial-scale wind farm, constructed by Vineyard Wind, is expected to deliver enough energy to Massachusetts to power 400,000 homes and businesses. But fishing communities are pushing back against development, arguing that it will alter natural ecosystems and negatively impact livelihoods.

In 2016, the first wind farm in the United States was established off the coast of Block Island in Rhode Island, with just five wind turbines. Construction is now underway to bring 62 turbines to the region. Known as Vineyard Wind 1, the new wind farm will sit approximately 24 kilometers off the coast of Marthas Vineyard. The farms are one component of the Biden-Harris Administrations efforts to expand green energyinitiatives.

Local fishers, however, are raising concerns about the offshore wind farm, arguing that the development represents a threat to their livelihoods and the environment. And the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) recently fileda legal challenge with the First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, asking them to review the decision to approve Vineyard Wind 1.

Fiona Hogan, Research Director for RODA, explains that the development will alter ecosystems. Mussels, for example, may find more favorable conditions, and will be drawn to the turbines and structures holding them in placea trend observedin the United Kingdom where commercial wind farms are already operational.

In other cases, turbines may lead to population decline. Some fisheries are very concerned over squid because theyre highly sensitive to noise. And turbines are not quiet, Hogan tells Food Tank. According to research from the Laboratory of Applied Bioacoustics, noise pollution can result in trauma for species, including squid and octopuses. She continues, If squid are particularly sensitive to noise, that could cause mortality andhave a lasting effect if their population decreases.

Monique Coombs, Director of Community Programs for the Maine Coast Fishermens Association, also worries that effects of offshore wind wont be limited to the wind farm itself. Ecosystems in the ocean are not necessarily contained to one area, Coombs tells Food Tank. If you do any type of changeon one area of the ocean, it is going to absolutely have an impact on that ecosystem, as well as a ripple effect on other ecosystems.

Communities also worry that the wind farm presents a safety hazard. Cables running beneath the sea floorwill power Vineyard Wind 1, but they dont always stay buried. Off Block Island, sections of cables have become exposedsince the farms installation.

This poses risks to fishers who tow gear or operate dredges near the bottom of the ocean, says Hogan. Theyre very concerned about getting electrocuted by their metal gear or hitting a cable.

Sarah Schumann, who fishes off the coast of Rhode Island, predicts that some fishers may feel the need to move to new waters due to these challenges, potentially encroaching on other fishers space. But Hogan also stresses that its a common misperception that fishers can easily move around. Permit restrictions, regulating where they can fish, and catch limits, regulating how much they can fish, can make it difficult to switch to a new area or species.

Although Vineyard Wind has listened to local communities concerns about the wind farms, Schumann argues their efforts came too late. By the time fishers voiced their opinions, there was little time to alter plans.

And while fishing communities say they understand the urgency of climate change, they believe that the issues posed by wind farms are too great. A really unfortunate part of this is we waited so long to do anything [and] were forced to take these drastic emergency measures that really are not optimal at all, not for the environment or for the economy, Schumann tells Food Tank.

Future wind farms are already in the works, but Schumann and Coombs both say that in an ideal world, offshore wind would be out of the question. Instead, Schumann would like solutions to focus on land that is already in use, instead of expanding into new regions.

Offshore wind does not belong, Coombs says. Any type of development does not belong in the ocean, period.

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US Fishing Communities Fear Effects of Offshore Wind Food Tank - Food Tank

Australias offshore processing regime on Nauru will cost taxpayers nearly $220m over the next six months as it holds 107 people on the Pacific island.

Brisbane firm Canstruct International has been awarded a new extension its eighth non-competitive contract extension for $218.5m to provide six months of garrison and welfare services on Nauru. The companys total revenue from island contracts over the past five years now totals more than $1.8bn.

It currently costs Australian taxpayers more than $4m a year to hold one person within the Nauru offshore regime a little over $11,000 per person per day.

The governments latest figures, revealed in Senate estimates, stated 107 people 81 refugees and 26 asylum seekers were still held on Nauru.

The 81 refugees have had their claim for protection formally recognised. Australia is legally obliged to protect them and they cannot be returned to their home country because they face a well-founded fear of being persecuted.

While no new asylum seeker arrivals have been sent to Nauru since 2014, the regime continues to cost Australia between $35m and $40m a month on average, the same amount it did when the detention centre held more than 1,000 people.

Canstructs tenure on Nauru has attracted significant regulatory and parliamentary attention.

The October 2017 letter of intent awarded to Canstruct International was worth $8m. Less than a month after this was signed, the company won a $385m contract awarded by limited tender, meaning there was not an open and competitive process to secure the initial contract.

The auditor general criticised the process, saying it is not clear why the department could not have secured a replacement supplier using a more competitive procurement method.

Since then, government figures show eight further amendments, all uncontested, have escalated the total cost to $1.82bn.

Questioning before the Senate has revealed other significant irregularities. The Guardian revealed in November that Canstruct International had just $8 in assets and had not commenced trading when it was awarded the contract.

A government-ordered financial strength assessment conducted by KPMG to test the suitability of the company was actually done on a different company.

The Canstruct group of companies, or entities associated with it, have made 11 donations to the Liberal National party in Queensland.

Canstruct International said it was contractually restricted from responding to a series of questions from the Guardian about the latest amendment.

A spokesperson for the department of home affairs said the Australian government remained committed to regional processing as a key pillar of Operation Sovereign Borders.

In support of the government of Naurus management of regional processing arrangements, Canstruct continues to provide garrison and welfare services to the regional processing caseload, they said.

Australia is working with Nauru to establish an enduring regional processing capability in Nauru.

The spokesperson said between 2008 and 2013, more than 50,000 people arrived in Australia by boat seeking asylum and an estimated 1,200 people drowned.

Thank you for your feedback.

We will never allow this to happen again. Operation Sovereign Borders has built a multi-layered system of: deterrence and disruption; detection, interception and returns, and; regional processing and third country resettlement.

The shadow home affairs minister, senator Kristina Keneally, said more than four years had passed since the government had handed a lucrative contract to an alleged shelf company without a competitive tender and without conducting basic due diligence on the company.

Since then, the Morrison government has had countless opportunities to renegotiate this important contract to get a better deal for taxpayers, or to put the contract through a competitive tender process, Keneally said.

Instead, it keeps extending the contract paying this private company more and more money to do less and less work.

The former New South Wales auditor general Tony Harris told the Guardian that Canstruct Internationals contracts, and the process by which they had been awarded, required further examination.

We can certainly say that the audit office ought to have commented on the KPMG report assessing the wrong company the fact that it didnt report on that suggests that it didnt see it thats a major flaw in the report. But the per detainee cost is so outrageous now, the audit office should be doing a report on it.

Harris said while the audit office was constrained by time and resources, the expense of Australias offshore contracts and their history of cost blowouts justified further examination.

I know the audit office has many worthy subject matters vying for its attention, but we have seen with this company and with Paladin [the shelf company awarded the equivalent contract in PNG] that the department has allowed, or been forced into, dealing with companies that have taken full advantage of their monopoly positions at the taxpayers expense.

The Canstruct group helped build the Nauru regional processing centre and Canstruct International took over running the centre from Broadspectrum in 2017.

The Nauru processing centre became an open centre in 2015, allowing some movement outside the camp, and all refugees and asylum seekers were physically moved into the Nauru community in 2019. But the 107 refugees and asylum seekers held by Australia on Nauru cannot leave the island.

The processing centre has been plagued by controversy, including reports of alleged violence against asylum seekers and refugees, systemic sexual abuse of children, inadequate medical and psychiatric care, and a spate of acts of self-harm and suicides.

The Nauru files a cache of leaked internal working documents written by staff and published in 2016 before Canstruct took over operations detailed reports of alleged sexual violence against children as young as six, assaults, and systemic neglect. Separate statements from senior United Nations officials said the Nauru camp was cruel and inhuman and a violation of the convention against torture. Mdecins Sans Frontires said the mental health suffering on Nauru was among the most severe MSF has ever seen.

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Nauru offshore regime to cost Australian taxpayers nearly $220m over next six months - The Guardian

January 24 (Renewables Now) - The Finnish government last week awarded research permits to three offshore wind projects in an area located within the countrys exclusive economic zone.

Wpd Finland Oy, part of German renewables developer Wpd AG, has secured a permit to conduct a survey west of the municipality of Jakobstad, Ostrobothnia region. The Finnish arm of Swedish renewables developer OX2 AB (STO:OX2) will also do studies in this area and also west of Hailuoto municipality in the Northern Ostrobothnia region.

All studies are planned to be conducted in 2022 and 2023, the government said on Thursday. The developers for the offshore wind projects will be selected by the government once the environmental impact assessment (EIA) has been completed.

The pre-construction studies, representing an investment of several million euros, are currently considered to be of substantial risk as, according to current legislation, it is possible to award a research permit for one area to multiple developers. The company carrying out the studies is not given priority in the competitive selection process.

The government said that it will assess the need for adopting specific procedures for the use of Finlands exclusive economic zone for offshore wind deployment.

Last month, Metsahallitus, the Finnish Forest Administration, launched a process to select a partner for a 1.3-GW offshore wind project in territorial waters about 15 km-30 km from the coast. A tender for the Korsnas scheme is due to be completed this year.

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Finland awards exploration permits for 3 offshore wind areas - Renewables Now

Haizea Bilbao, a subsidiary of Haizea Wind Group, has entered into an agreement with rsted for an undisclosed offshore wind project for which the Spain-based company will manufacture and deliver monopiles.

The contract, which is subject to final investment decision by rsted on the project, is the largest ever secured by Haizea Wind Group and marks the companys first offshore monopile contract, following the delivery of the monopiles for the Italian Taranto nearshore project last year.

Under the contract with rsted, signed on 6 January, Haizea will be responsible for procurement of materials, engineering of the fabrication process, and fabrication of the monopiles that will be delivered in the port of Bilbao.

This is aligned with the strategic growth plan of Haizea that includes the target to become one of the most important players in the Offshore Wind value chain, and more specifically secure a relevant position within foundation supply & manufacturing companies, the company stated in a press release.

According to Haizea, with this investment it will double its existing production capacity by extending its fabication facilities by 56,000 square metres and creating further 350 direct jobs in the port of Bilbao, as well as a significant number of indirect jobs in local suppliers and subcontractors.

Additional storage areas will also be required to accommodate the monopiles before they are delivered to the transportation vessels contracted by rsted, Haizea said.

The factory in Bilbao has been designed to supply monopiles with an outside diameter of 15 metres, 170 milimetres of wall thickness, 130 metres in length, and more than 3,500 tonnes of total weight, according to the company.

Securing this agreement with the market leader in operating offshore wind confirms the robustness of the plan developed by Haizea during the past years to position itself as one of the leading foundation manufacturers in offshore wind and probes the commitment of the group to become one of the top global suppliers to the wind industry, Haizea said in a press release on 24 January.

The port of Bilbao will also get its position as one of the most important Offshore Wind Hubs in the south of Europe strengthened with the investment.

Haizea Wind Group currently has manufacturing facilities in Spain, France and Argentina, from where it delivers wind turbine towers, offshore foundations and large castings to the wind industry.

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Haizea to Deliver Monopiles for rsted's Offshore Wind Project | Offshore Wind - Offshore WIND

Floating Offshore Wind Energy is a promising technology, complementing Bottom Fixed Offshore Wind Farms

I. Introduction

Compared to Offshore Wind, Floating Wind bears several advantages: Floating Wind Farms do not depend on solid soil and ground conditions and can be installed further off the shore to benefit from much stronger winds to generate more energy. Floating Offshore Wind does not (yet) contribute much as an energy resource on a global level but due to its great potential promises to deliver clean energy at a high scale in the future. However, Floating Offshore Wind projects also bear technical, legal, and financial risks that need to be kept in mind. With this insight, we give a brief overview on the opportunities and challenges involved in Floating Offshore Wind projects.

II. Opportunities

When comparing Floating Offshore Wind to the more established technology of Bottom Fixed Offshore Wind Turbines, it becomes clear that Floating Offshore Wind bears many advantages: Bottom Fixed Offshore Wind projects require a number of ocean conditions that are often difficult to meet. For instance, they require solid soil and ground structure which is not required for Floating Offshore Wind Turbines.

The majority of all Offshore Wind Turbines are installed in a water depth of only 27 meters or less. This is not ideal: Firstly, shallow waters are usually close to the shore the wind energy, however, is much higher further off the coast. Further, shallow waters are limited in space and will become even rarer with the increase of sea level due to climate change. Additionally, those shallow waters closer to the coast are home to plant and animal wildlife and should therefore not be overcrowded by wind turbines. Hence, focussing on Floating Offshore Wind is favourable not only from an environmental perspective but also to raise the level of energy produced.

III. Challenges

The downsides of Floating Wind cannot be ignored and will be of particular importance to investors. With the increasing distance to the shore installation, operation and maintenance are more difficult to perform and lead to higher costs. This can be facilitated with good port infrastructure, which will become necessary as the field of Floating Offshore Wind is expanding.

Some technical factors which will be challenging during the expansion of Floating Offshore Wind are mooring systems, dynamic cables, the assembly of the turbines themselves and foundation fabrication. The mooring of the turbines is a separate challenge to consider since it is unique to the floating turbines and not necessary in the Bottom Fixed sector. However, experience gained within the oil and gas industry can come in handy. Considering the electric cables, it is interesting to note that even with Bottom Fixed Turbines we have seen many issues and claims arising out of or in connection with the performance of high voltage cables. With Floating Offshore Wind, dynamic cables are required which need to withstand additional impairments such as continuous movement of the turbines and adverse weather conditions. Their performance might bring even more difficulties than it is the case for cables of Bottom Fixed Turbines. Above all, the sector of Floating Offshore Wind is quite new and small, and it might therefore be difficult to obtain all materials and equipment needed from one of the big and experienced suppliers on the Offshore Wind market. This, however, also brings new business opportunities.

IV. Solutions contractual framework

Many of the challenges mentioned above can be tackled both from a legal and technical perspective. Solutions on a contractual level make Floating Offshore Wind an attractive market for investors.

Starting with the contractual framework, multi-contract structure and EPC contracts are commonly used in the industry. By making use of a multi-contract structure, Floating Offshore Wind developers would enter into different contracts with different (sub)contractual partners for all areas and stages of the project. Under an EPC contract, one contractor will design, engineer and build the entire project on a turnkey basis usually at a fixed price which is agreed upon in advance. This option mitigates the financial risks for developers which can make it particularly attractive, but it is also more rarely used in the market since not many contractors are willing to take the overall risk of a project especially in such a young sector.

Regardless of the chosen contractual framework clauses on (delay) damages, distribution of risk and liability, warranty and time extension (including but not limited to cases of adverse weather) are highly relevant and should be carefully addressed and evaluated to mitigate potential challenges involved in Floating Offshore Wind.

When looking at potential claims for damages it is interesting to note that the performance of the turbine as a whole can mainly be affected by the floating foundation which is not the case with Bottom Fixed Turbines where the main focus is on the turbine itself. Having said that, damages are always a challenging subject for commercial negotiations which is especially true for multi-contract structures. The same applies for the distribution of risk and liability which must be done on a case-by-case basis in multi-contract structures often with a back-to-back liability regime. Considering the many differences in the structure and design between Bottom Fixed Turbines and Floating Offshore Wind Turbines and the early stages of Floating Offshore Wind warranty systems used for Bottom Fixed Turbines will not be sufficient to adequately allocate the risks in Floating Offshore Wind projects. Nevertheless, proper risk allocation must include well-developed warranty systems which might prove quite challenging.

To summarise, operating in a new field such as Floating Offshore Wind bears many unexpected challenges but also great opportunities and the possibility to take an early leading position on the market. The risks can be addressed in the contractual framework and by way of technical concepts.

V. Outlook

During the past years and months, many EU governments, and the EU itself have promised a transition to green energy. Considering the great need for more supply of renewable energy and the many advantages Floating Offshore Wind bears it is not surprising that Floating Offshore Wind is expected to supply a significant portion of the energy needed in the European Union in the future.

With the 30 MW Hywind project in Scotland and the 25 MW Windfloat Atlantic project in Portugal, Europe is the global technology leader for Floating Wind installations. At least seven countries have concrete plans to install Floating Wind in the next ten years. Projects are planned in France, the UK, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Sweden.

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Opportunities and challenges in Floating Offshore Wind - Lexology

The mild and dry pattern looks to continue into next week with a ridge of high pressure in The West. There is an "inside slider" low-pressure system to the east later tonight into Saturday. This will help crank up the offshore winds by increasing the pressure gradient in the area and also coupling that with parallel upper airflow. For us on the Central Coast, this will result in 15-25mph offshore winds with higher gusts of 35-45. For Southern California, this is a legit Santa Ana event and some 60-80mph gusts are not out of the question.

All this will produce high temps in the 60s and 70s thru the weekend. Even though the strong offshore winds will be replaced by weaker onshore winds next week temps will still likely stay above average with dry conditions.

Lows overnight will be cold in the wind-sheltered interior and in wind-sheltered valleys in the 30s, and some scattered freezing lows are likely in the interior valleys. Fog and haze are also possible again under the dome of high pressure but should be scattered due to the drier air and the pockets of higher winds.

The debate after that remains about Feb. expectations on rain. Models in my view continue to send mixed messages. Deterministic models try to get something going sometime between the 31st of Jan and Feb 5th but the timing and details keep changing. The CFS (a longer-range model) has flip-flopped 3 days in a row: dry-wet-dry (than average I mean for much of Feb.).

My mind is open to wet conditions but I'd say at this point you have LaNina battling climatology (Feb. is typically the wettest month) and with the inconsistent outlooks I'd have to say that outlook confidence is low (in other words, don't bet on anything yet..wait for more data to agree).

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Weekend temps will be mild fueled by offshore winds - KSBY San Luis Obispo News

OEDigital January 24, 2022

Illustration - Credit:bomboman/AdobeStock

Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC) said Sunday that its subsidiary KUFPEC Indonesia had made a commercial discovery of gas and condensate in the Anambas Block, offshore Indonesia.

KUFPEC Indonesia made the discovery through the drilling of the Anambas-2X well.

"This exciting discovery marks the first operated offshore exploration discovery for KUFPEC and demonstrates KUFPECs growth and potential as an operator of offshore oil and gas projects, consistent with the KUFPEC 2040 Strategy. The well was drilled in 288 feet of water, using a jack-up rig to reach a total depth of 10,509 feet," KUFPEC said.

Located in the Natuna Sea near an existing block in which KUFPEC is a partner, the Anambas Block was awarded to KUFPEC Indonesia through a competitive bidding process in 2019.

The Block is 100% operated by KUFPEC Indonesia. KUFPEC Indonesias production sharing contract has a license term of 30 years, including a 6-year exploration period. As part of the drilling campaign, KUFPEC Indonesia conducted two Drill Stem Tests so far, one in the Lower Gabus Formation and the other in the Intra Keras Formation. These tests resulted in a stabilized combined flow rate of 7 MMscfd of natural gas and 1,240 stb/d of condensate from the two formations. KUFPEC Indonesia intends to conduct more tests on other formations within the same well, the company said.

Upon reaching its main drilling objective in the Lower Gabus Formation, KUFPEC Indonesia used well-deepening operation techniques to successfully penetrate thicker and cleaner reservoirs, the company said.

"The outcomes of the well-deepening program provided an upside to the original well objectives and identified potential further exploration opportunities in the deeper formations. KUFPEC Indonesia will also continue implementing testing programs for three reservoirs in the Arang Formation, which could produce even higher gas rates," KUFPEC said.

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Kuwait's KUFPEC Makes First Operated Offshore Discovery in Indonesia - OE Digital

Carnarvon Energy (ASX:CVN) has today confirmed that the Buffalo-10 exploration well offshore East Timor is uncommercial.

The wireline logging operations have been completed with the oil column deemed to be residual and uncommercial. The well will be left in a safe condition and the rig demobilised, the company said in a statement.

Drilling at the redevelopment project was targeting a potential oil bonanza, which now seems unlikely. Carnarvon and UK-listed Advance Energy (LON:ADV) were hoping to hit an 80-metre oil column and potential 34 million barrels of remaining oil in the attic area of the Buffalo field.

Carnarvon gives up as widely anticipated Buffalo probe disappoints offshore East Timor

Carnarvon Energy managing director, Adrian Cook, told Energy Voice last week that the results were disappointing and that his company will now focus on its projects in the Bedout basin offshore Western Australia.

The Buffalo-10 well was drilled offshore East Timor, also known as Timor Leste, in the TL-SO-T 19-14 PSC in which Carnarvon holds a 50% interest and Advance holds the remaining share.

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Carnarvon confirms Buffalo-10 well offshore East Timor is a dud - News for the Energy Sector - Energy Voice

Establishing or even reorganizing an older business means making decisions about the incorporation. While your first thought was to incorporate domestically, the idea of establishing an offshore corporation instead of or in addition to a domestic one is intriguing.

Would an offshore corporation in a desirable international setting work for you? Here are nine potential benefits to consider.

The Ease of Incorporation

The process for incorporating internationally varies from nation to nation, and some make it easy to set up a corporate structure. Options include limited liability companies as well as corporations. Its worth the effort to explore the possibilities for incorporation and how long the process would take.

Research whats involved with incorporation with a given nation. Determine if there are any waiting periods or fees you may need to cover. Be mindful of annual fees or those you pay at the time of incorporation. Youre likely to find that theres more than one offshore location that offers simple and easy incorporation that surpasses anything you could do at home.

Tapping into Affordable Tax Rates

Some nations offer excellent tax incentives for business incorporation. In some cases, you may find that the annual tax obligation is much lower than what you would pay domestically. There may be incentives that allow you to incur no taxes for the first year or so of the companys operation.

A lower tax obligation translates into more capital you can put back into honing the operation, marketing the business, or managing some other business expense. The result is that the company may be turning a net profit sooner rather than later.

Protecting Proprietary Information

Theres a great deal of proprietary data involved with running a business. Along with client lists, financial data needs to be constantly protected. You also want to ensure the competition doesnt uncover your product development efforts.

There are several protections offered in offshore locations to help protect your data. That includes cloud and local storage solutions that use the latest security methods to prevent unauthorized access. Youll also find that offshore business bank accounts carry optimal security. The right security keeps your cash flow, client lists, sensitive data, and more protected.

Building a Portfolio in a Tax-Neutral Setting

As an offshore business, you can begin to build a portfolio that includes several investments that may or may not be available at home. From real estate opportunities to stocks that are not traded domestically, you can assemble a portfolio that helps to increase the companys financial security.

You may also get to enjoy a tax-neutral situation. This means you dont have to pay taxes on the returns generated from those investments at least not to the nation where the company is incorporated. See this as one more way to strengthen the company and build assets for future use.

Protecting Financial Assets

There is no such thing as a company thats impervious to lawsuits. The potential for being sued is a real possibility for any business. If your company is incorporated domestically, a judgment against you could put the entire business at risk. You may have to liquidate your domestic assets and possibly sell the company to settle the judgment.

If youre incorporated offshore and keep substantial company assets in offshore bank accounts, those remain intact despite a domestic judgment. You may lose just about everything held under the domestic incorporation, but the subsidiary or the segment incorporated offshore remains viable. That ensures you have a foundation to begin again.

Positioning for International Commerce

Having operations in other nations allows you to enter markets that would otherwise be closed. Offshore incorporation gives you a presence that can be used to fuel all or part of your international efforts.

This approach may allow you to enjoy the merits of a trade agreement with the nation where you choose to incorporate the business. Along with entering additional markets, the trade agreements may allow you to do so at less cost.

Laws Better Suited to Your Business Model

When investigating laws and regulations that apply to business operations in offshore locations, project how they would impact the operation of your business. From local labor sources to safety standards to distribution channels, theres a good chance that offshore incorporation paired with physical locations within that country would provide a great setting.

You may find that an offshore location offers you more legal safeguards than any domestic incorporation could provide. If so, going offshore makes sense.

More Affordable Operational Expenses

Labor is not the only business expense that may be impacted by incorporating offshore. Thanks to the international incorporation and establishing a physical presence within the country, you could save on several other costs.

As part of the process, you may provide competitive employee incentives that make it possible to hire the most talented people for positions. The availability of local raw materials within that country could mean you dont have to import whats needed to manufacture your products. Theres the chance that shipping costs may also be more manageable thanks to incorporating and operating offshore.

Greater Stability for Your Business

Internal stability is essential, but there are external factors to consider. Depending on whats happening with the economy and the political structure in your country of origin, offshore incorporation paired with actual operations within that nation could provide stability abroad when theres less stability close to home.

This may insulate you from inflation or shifts in the market that tend to decrease sales in the domestic arena. At the same time, youre positioned to weather that inflationary period and possibly cultivate more market share abroad. This helps keep the business stable during a difficult period.

Compare Offshore Incorporation Options

Offshore jurisdictions vary in economic, political, environmental stability. A good place to start is nations physically closest to your home country and where your native language is widely spoken.

The bottom line is that opting to incorporate in an offshore location offers many advantages. Compare offshore incorporation options carefully to understand which ones offer the most benefits for your type of business.

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9 Ways Your Business Will Benefit from Offshore Incorporation - Finextra

A proposal to revamp Massachusetts offshore wind programs is pitting cost-wary Democratic lawmakers against the states Republican governor, who wants to make ocean turbines a centerpiece of climate goals.

Gov. Charlie Baker appeared yesterday before a joint energy committee controlled by state Democrats, to promote what he called a "game-changing" bill for Massachusetts offshore wind industry. Sponsored by Baker himself, the bill aims to bolster the industry and would eliminate an existing requirement that each new offshore wind project be cheaper than the last.

That condition, which kicks in when utilities and the state select project proposals, was put in place by Massachusetts in 2016, when the cost of offshore wind electricity was largely a matter of guesswork. It was intended to protect the public from untenably expensive contracts.

Now, Baker and the bills supporters say the requirement is causing Massachusetts the first U.S. state to contract for offshore wind to lose out to neighbors like New York and New Jersey in the ongoing competition for industry investments.

"Without prompt action, and continued growth and evolution, we lose risking our status and this is something we all talk about as a leader in this space," said Baker yesterday during his appearance before the Legislatures Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy.

Bakers proposal highlights broader debates about the offshore wind sector, including how laws can affect company behavior and whether the cost of scaling up new technologies is achievable without hurting low-income ratepayers.

The fate of Bakers proposal also could alter the landscape for offshore wind in other parts of the East Coast, supporters say. If the legislation passes and functions as intended, Massachusetts could win new investments in manufacturing that have increasingly flowed toward New York and New Jersey, which have the nations biggest mandates for buying offshore wind power.

The cost of offshore wind is likely to decline as the industry gains size, regardless of state requirements, Baker and other energy officials say. The flexibility to reach slightly more expensive deals would let developers build in creative solutions for transmission and new technologies, like hydrogen and long-duration storage, that could save money or juice progress toward local climate goals, they say.

At least one influential opponent state Sen. Michael Barrett, a Democratic co-chair of the joint committee counters that erasing the price requirement would be unnecessarily risky for Massachusetts ratepayers, however.

"Massachusetts consumers are better off with constraints on project prices," Barrett wrote in a Jan. 10 letter to the governor.

The states climate goals, which include a 50 percent greenhouse gas emissions cut by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2050, envision a massive shift from gas cars and building heat appliances toward electric technologies, he wrote, making controls on the price of electricity especially important in coming years.

Other Northeastern states have often agreed to pay far more for offshore wind, ranging up to about double the per-kilowatt rate in Massachusetts, Barrett noted in the letter.

The price requirement had been successful in bringing new jobs and investment to the state, Barrett told the governor during the latters appearance before the joint committee yesterday. Baker supported the requirement five years ago, when the economics of offshore wind were far less well-established.

"My hat is doffed to you. But I cant believe that you would want to put us where New York is today by lifting the cap altogether, or putting us where, God forbid, New Jersey or Connecticut ratepayers are today," said Barrett.

"We cant depend on market competition to substitute for a price cap as a protection for Massachusetts consumers," he said.

Known as "An Act to Power Massachusetts Clean Energy Economy," the bills odds of passage are unclear, although the governor has important allies for his proposal. The state Houses Democratic speaker, Ron Mariano, has backed the plan, along with offshore wind developers and environmental groups like the Sierra Club and Environment Massachusetts.

The bill also includes other features that may attract Democratic legislators, like the launch of a new $750 million fund for innovative clean energy technologies, in part using federal money from last years American Rescue Plan stimulus package. Separately, it would shift some decisionmaking power over offshore wind contracts from the utilities toward the state executive branchs energy authority.

The legislations clean energy fund could also open a new path for Massachusetts as it seeks to meet its climate goals, if it works according to the governors vision.

Lifting the price requirement, Baker argued yesterday, could free up Massachusetts to settle on deals that pair offshore wind with next-generation technologies that would provide 24/7 sources of clean energy, like hydrogen and long-duration energy storage.

"Im one of these people who really does believe that if we actually figure out storage and turn offshore wind and solar into a hard, completely reliable and dependable [solution] strategically, it changes kind of everything with respect to the way we think about some of this stuff," said Baker.

Such "firm" resources would mark a change from current energy transition plans in Massachusetts, which has counted on Canadian hydropower as a round-the-clock substitute for oil and gas. But neighboring states have repeatedly rejected the huge transmission lines that would transport the hydropower into Massachusetts.

"The power of innovation, in this space, may be much bigger than we realize," said Baker.

The debate also shone a light on the recent consolidation of the offshore wind sector, a phenomenon that could shape clean energy goals in unforeseen ways.

In 2018, for instance, 11 developers submitted formal bids to the Interior Department for three federal lease areas off the coast of Massachusetts.

In 2021, just two offshore wind project proposals were submitted to Massachusetts, which was awarding the rights to produce the power. In the end, both competitors won project rights.

Two major developers, rsted and Equinor, decided to sit out the state solicitation. In a statement to E&E News, spokespeople for rsted and its utility partner, Eversource, attributed their absence to the price requirement, saying it "impacted our ability to accomplish" objectives like investing in the local supply chain. "We look forward to future reforms that will help us achieve these goals," the companies wrote.

During the governors appearance before the Massachusetts committee, however, Barrett noted that only a slightly larger handful of developers were leading offshore wind investments in Northeastern states.

"Unfortunately, at the moment, with or without a price cap, the entire upper East Coast has attracted very few players, and thats a sobering thing to think about," Barrett told the governor.

One version of a compromise, Barrett suggested, might involve removing transmission solutions from the price requirements, rather than abandoning the latter entirely.

"I ask you if there is grounds here for compromise," he said. "Can we find our way to some measured outcome here, rather than rolling the dice, as New York, New Jersey and Connecticut have done?"

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How much should offshore wind cost? Look to Massachusetts - E&E News