Amprion secures first planning approval for DolWind4 grid
Amprion secures first planning approval for DolWind4 grid | Windpower Monthly
Amprion Offshore has received planning approval for the DolWin4 offshore grid connection system linking wind farms in Area 3 of the German North Sea’s 'exclusive economic zone.
The planning approval relates specifically to the DolWin delta converter platform and the approximately 26-kilometre submarine cable system. It is the first step towards achieving a final building permit.
During the technical implementation, Amprion must take into account additional provisions issued in the planning approval decision by Germany’s federal maritime and hydrographic agency (BSH). Granting of the final permit is conditional on providing evidence of this.
DolWin4 will go into operation in 2028, along with the BorWind4 offshore grid connection system, which Amprion is also developing and will run largely in parallel.
Last October, German federal regulator Bundesnetzagentur approved an early start to construction for both projects.
Combined, DolWin4 and BorWin4 will connect around 1.8GW of offshore wind energy to the onshore network.
Related Knowledge Center: Offshore wind energy
Over the next decade, U.S. offshore wind power is expected to grow from a single 30-megawatt wind farm off Rhode Island to more than 2,000 MW of capacity along the Atlantic Seaboard. There are contracts for wind power off the coasts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Virginia.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has estimated the United States has over 4,000 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind potential, enough to power the country four times over.
The growth in part being spurred by state solicitations, including in New York, where then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) set a commitment of 9,000 MW of offshore wind by 2035, and in Connecticut, where in June 2021, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed legislation authorizing the construction of 2,000 MW of offshore wind by 2030.
The offshore development is also being driven by an investment tax credit set to end in December 2019 and is equal to 12 percent of expenditures. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) have introduced a bill to extend the tax credit for up to eight years.
The Interior Department has held eight competitive lease sales that resulted in 15 offshore wind leases over 1.7 million acres that has the potential for 21 GW of capacity. In February 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management completed a bidding process that realized $4.37 billion for 488,000 acres across six lease areas in federal waters off New York and New Jersey.
Projects have also been proposed off the Southeast coast, off California and Hawaii, and for the Great Lakes.