The long-term financial viability of US offshore wind is as much dependent on the ability to rapidly secure early-stage construction wins, achieve energy generation success, and foster investor diversity, as it is on the completion on key auction wins and the steady progress towards of research- and-development milestones.
This is according to PMSS America, Inc., the US division of leading global renewable energy consultancy TÜV SÜD PMSS – an experienced offshore wind advisory.
The comments follow recent confirmation from the US Department of Energy that 14 projects have entered “advanced stages” of development.
Two of these projects having moved into initial stages of construction – Cape Wind in Nantucket Sound and Deepwater Wind’s Block Island project off Rhode Island – while the remaining twelve have obtained a lease, conducted extensive studies, or obtained a power purchase agreement.
Collectively, these projects represent approximately 4.9GW of potential new energy generating capacity, while enabling the US East Coast to quickly tackle a growing and electricity grid and transmission challenge.
In July, TÜV SÜD PMSS was selected to provide strategic guidance to the US Department of the Interior and Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) on cable spacing for U.S. offshore wind projects.
The project enables BSEE to have a clear understanding of the regulatory and environmental parameters associated with the installation and use of offshore transmission and collection (inter-array) system cables. An understanding that is critical to mitigate any unforeseen future project development delays that subsea-cabling installation may create.
In September, TÜV SÜD PMSS announced the appointment of Doug Pfeister as a Senior Vice President, following his move from the Offshore Wind Development Coalition (OffshoreWindDC), which he led to promote offshore wind development and represent the interests of developers and firms in the growing supply chain.
An advocate of progressive offshore wind policies, Doug successfully lobbied, along with other offshore wind proponents, for the New Jersey Offshore Wind Development Act of 2010, a highly influential state law that has supported the establishment and growth of US offshore wind to date.
“Over the past eighteen months, the US offshore wind industry has taken a number of significant steps forward, as it moves from a nascent, emerging market towards a point where it can make a valuable contribution towards US energy supply and demand,” said Sebastian Chivers, Director, PMSS America, Inc .
“However, while consultancies like ours continue to back and support this key market, the extent to which that momentum can be maintained is as much dependent on fostering greater investor and supply chain diversity as it is on getting steel in the water,” he added.
“As the US Department of the Interior’s recent announcement to auction off about 334,000 acres off the coast of New Jersey and last month’s lease sale off the coast of Maryland have shown, the opportunity and market potential is growing. To succeed, it requires broad-based financial appetite and supply chain competition, from the start.”
[mappress mapid=”14386″]