Delaware Negotiating Offshore Wind Benefits, Possible Power Cable at Delaware Seashore State Park - WBOC TV 16
Delaware Negotiating Offshore Wind Benefits, Possible Power Cable at Delaware Seashore State Park | Latest News | wboc.com
REHOBOTH BEACH, DE - Delaware Governor John Carney and US Wind have started negotiations regarding two offshore wind projects including how the projects would benefit the State, as well as a possible land lease in Delaware Seashore State Park for an underground power cable.
According to the Governor’s Office, the Governor and US Wind CEO Jeffrey Grybowski signed an initial Term Sheet for the negotiations over two wind projects, MarWin and Momentum Wind, today, December 19th.
Included in that Term Sheet is a possible lease at 3Rs Beach in Delaware Seashore State Park for a cable to bring power from the offshore turbines to the regional electrical grid.
Also included in the negotiation outlines are plans that the Governor says will benefit Delawareans, including:
-150,000 renewable energy credits (RECs) each year associated with the wind generation, which would be transferred at no cost to Delaware utilities to help them meet clean energy requirements and lower customer bills.
-Funding for dredging projects in Delaware’s coastal areas
-Funding for clean energy workforce development training at Delaware colleges and schools
-An environmental education scholarship fund
-A Resiliency Fund for climate change projects at State Parks
“This agreement means Delaware will become an active player in the growing offshore wind industry,” said Governor Carney. “It aligns with other objectives, including our emission reduction targets and meeting the net-zero carbon goal set last year by House Bill 99. Transitioning to clean energy sources is essential to reducing manmade greenhouse gas emissions that are driving climate change, and these wind projects are part of that transition.”
The Governor’s Office says US Wind’s lease at 3Rs Beach is proposed at $350,000 a year with annual increases. US Wind would have to obtain environmental permits for the cable routes, a process that the Governor says will include public comment.
The lease negotiation with Delaware State Parks would be separate from that process, and would not guarantee the environmental permits US Wind would need.
State Parks and US Wind will hold a public information session prior to Delaware finalizing the potential lease, the Governor’s Office says, detailing the proposed work at 3Rs Beach. The Governor says US Wind’s current proposal for the underground cable would not be visible save for a manhole in the beach’s parking lot.
The cable landing at 3Rs Beach would reportedly be one of several coming ashore from the turbines. The cable would then run to a substation at the Indian River Power Plant, which will then connect to a regional grid.
Governor Carney’s Office says the offshore wind projects will lower regional energy prices and capacity charges by up to $253 million over 20 years. US Wind will also invest over $200 million in transmission system upgrades, according to Carney’s Office.
You can view the term sheet outline of the potential agreement between the state and US Wind here. More information on the two projects can be found here: MarWin and Momentum Wind.
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.