US Wind plans Maryland project expansion and power price increase
US Wind plans Maryland project expansion and power price increase | Windpower Monthly
US Wind is applying to add an extra 600MW of capacity to its offshore wind development plans off Maryland. It now plans to build 1.7GW of offshore wind capacity off Maryland.
The Maryland-based developer has applied to the Maryland Public Service Commission for offshore wind renewable energy credits (ORECs) for the additional capacity
In the state’s first two offshore wind rounds – held in 2017 and 2021 – US Wind had been awarded ORECs to support projects of more than 1,056MW.
In what is known as a Revised Round 2 proceeding, US Wind's application now seeks authority to build a total of 1,710MW of offshore wind capacity in its entire federal lease area.
US Wind applied to build the extra capacity to replace that left over after Ørsted scrapped ORECs for its 120MW Skipjack Wind 1 and 846MW Skipjack Wind 2 projects earlier this year. Back in January, the Danish developer said the projects were “no longer commercially viable”, but remained open to bidding for offtake agreements in future auction rounds.
Maryland has an aggressive goal of 8.5GW of offshore wind by 2031.
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.