The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has announced its first step toward potential leasing for commercial wind energy development in federal waters offshore California. BOEM has completed an initial review of an unsolicited lease request from Trident Winds, LLC (Trident Winds) for a floating wind energy project offshore Morro Bay, California, deemed the request complete, and will soon issue a Federal Register Notice to determine if there is competitive interest in the area.
“Today’s announcement marks an important step in facilitating the responsible development of clean offshore energy to power homes and businesses in the Golden State,” said BOEM Director Abigail Ross Hopper. “BOEM will work closely with the state of California, industry and a broad range of stakeholders to ensure that our leasing process is conducted in a thoughtful, engaged, and transparent manner.”
Image credit: BOEM
As part of its review, BOEM confirmed that Trident Winds is legally, technically, and financially qualified to hold an offshore wind energy lease in federal waters. BOEM’s receipt of an unsolicited lease request is the first step in a leasing process that will include environmental analysis and extensive stakeholder engagement.
The Trident Winds request, received on January 14, 2016, is the first formal interest in obtaining a lease for wind development in federal waters off California. The proposed a project would generate up to 800 megawatts (MW) of power using about 100 floating foundations, each supporting a turbine that could produce up to 8 MW. A single seafloor transmission cable would bring the electricity to shore. The proposal may be expanded to generate 1,000 MW at a later date, if additional transmission capacity and market off-take can be obtained. The project would be located about 33 nautical miles northwest of Morro Bay in water depths of 2,600‐3,300 feet. The proposed lease area is 67,963 acres.
"As California moves forward to meet 50 percent of the state's energy needs with clean, renewable energy by 2030, wind power will play an important role," said Commissioner David Hochschild of the California Energy Commission. "This offshore wind project proposal, the first of its kind, marks another important milestone."
The next step in BOEM’s process is to publish a Federal Register Notice to determine if there is competitive interest in the area requested. The Notice also requests the public and interested stakeholders to comment and provide information on site conditions, commercial, military or other uses of the area and potential impacts of the proposed Trident Winds project. BOEM expects to issue the Notice this summer.
BOEM will use the information and expressions of interest received during the comment period to determine whether there is competitive interest in the area. If BOEM determines there is competitive interest, it will initiate the competitive leasing process. If no expressions of interest are received, BOEM will proceed with the noncompetitive leasing process. BOEM will also use responses to the Notice to inform decision-making about the proposed project and to identify potential issues for National Environmental Policy Act analysis.
To date, BOEM has awarded eleven commercial wind energy leases in federal waters off the Atlantic coast, including nine leases issued as a result of competitive lease sales (two leases in an area offshore Rhode Island-Massachusetts, two offshore Massachusetts, two offshore New Jersey, two offshore Maryland, and one offshore Virginia). Competitive lease sales generated $16.4 million in winning bids for more than a million acres in federal waters. Floating turbine platforms anchored to the seafloor, as proposed by Trident Winds, offer an alternate technology for generating wind power in the deeper waters off the Pacific coast.
A copy of Trident Winds unsolicited lease request and additional information on the BOEM wind energy leasing process, can be viewed at www.boem.gov/california/.
Subsea IMR provider, N-Sea, has signed a letter of intent with CERES Recherches & Expertise Sous-Marine and TechSub Industrie Environement, to provide subsea survey, installation and remediation services to the French offshore wind industry.
Gerard Keser, CEO of N-Sea, said: “N-Sea has developed a strong track record in UXO management, construction support and IMR services in the offshore renewables market. Together with CERES and TechSub, we will be best placed to help developers and contractors understand and deal with the risks of the installation of a power grid and windfarm foundations on the seabed.
Representatives of N-Sea, CERES Recherches & Expertise Sous-Marine and TechSub Industrie Environement with the King and Queen of the Netherlands at the Dutch Trade Mission.
“This partnership is a significant step forward for N-Sea in our international growth plans and simultaneously ensures that our shared expert knowledge of French regulations and subsea operations can be utilized to provide the best possible service to our customers.”
The partnership will also include the provision of unexploded ordnance (UXO) detection, identification and removal services and will allow all three companies to utilize their international experience, vessels and specialized equipment.
The agreement was signed at the Dutch Trade Mission on 11 March in Paris and was witnessed by Ministry officials and the King and Queen of the Netherlands.
N-Sea is known for its innovative work as an independent offshore subsea contractor, specializing in IMR services for the oil and gas, renewable and telecom/utility industries, as well as for civil contracting communities. N-Sea provides near shore, offshore and survey services to major operators and service companies alike.
Drawing on over 30 years experience of supplying high quality cranes for offshore applications, Protea has recently unveiled an all new service crane targeted at the offshore wind industry.
The compact 2t SWL crane is an ideal lifting solution for light lifting and handling operations on unmanned platforms such as offshore wind turbines. Its innovative and compact design features extra high grade steel to increase strength whilst reducing weight and high quality, low maintenance components to ensure a long and reliable service life.
“Protea has prior experience of the offshore wind market having previously supplied the offshore substation cranes for the Sheringham Shoal wind farm” highlighted Graham Manning, Protea’s Global Sales Manager.
“This crane is designed to meet the specific requirements of the offshore wind sector and is a safe, reliable, low maintenance, operator friendly unit that can be easily configured to suit the requirements of an individual offshore wind farm development or turbine manufacturer.”
The service crane is designed in accordance with the relevant DNV and NORSOK codes and has a fully electric hoist with AOPS and MOPS overload protection. A range of options such as electrical slew drive or visual display showing service requirements can also be provided to meet specific client requirements.
Supplied as turnkey, fully tested unit from Protea’s state of the art facility in Kluczbork, the crane can be quickly installed and commissioned on a wind turbine base platform by Protea’s experienced team of service engineers. It can then be used to safely and efficiently transfer spares and equipment from support boats to the turbine.
“With the continued growth of the Offshore Wind Market and a forecast investment of 200 billion euro over the next decade, I am confident that this crane and other equipment targeted at the offshore wind sector will become an increasingly important part of Protea’s product range” added Tomasz Paszkiewicz, Protea’s Managing Director.
MacGregor, part of Cargotec, has won an order for substructure connection mooring systems for the world's first floating offshore wind farm: Statoil's Hywind pilot park in Scotland.
MacGregor will be responsible for the delivery of the Pusnes substructure mooring connection system for the pilot project's five floating wind turbines. Delivery of equipment is planned from the second through the fourth quarter of 2016 and installation of the wind turbines is scheduled for 2017.
"This contract represents a step change for MacGregor in terms of entering a new industry sector," says Jan Martin Grindheim, Director, Sales and Business Development, MacGregor Offshore Mooring Systems. "The project hinges on applying proven technology in new applications. MacGregor was chosen for the task because of its long history of designing and delivering very reliable mooring solutions for offshore floating production units for the harsh conditions in the North Sea."
MacGregor will deliver a total of five sets of Pusnes substructure mooring connection systems including instrumentation for load monitoring. The ballast-stabilized turbine structures will each be equipped with a three-point mooring system employing site-specific anchors.
"Statoil is proud to develop the world's first floating wind farm, further increasing the global market potential for offshore wind energy. We are very pleased with this contract awarded to MacGregor. We are excited that high quality oil and gas suppliers in both Norway and Scotland are able to capture the growing opportunities offered through new renewables growth," says Stephen Bull, Statoil's Senior Vice President for Offshore Wind.
Statoil's floating offshore wind farm will cover an area of about 4.2km² near Buchan Deep, approximately 25km off Peterhead in Aberdeenshire on Scotland's North Sea coast. The 6MW wind turbines will provide enough electricity for 20,000 UK homes. They will operate in waters over 100m deep, that experience an average wave height of 1.8m.
"To give some idea of the scale of the project, the wind turbines will stand at an overall height of around 258m, which is nearly three times the height of the Statue of Liberty in New York," adds Mr. Grindheim.
The Hywind project is part of Statoil's activities in New Energy Solutions, the company's business area developing profitable renewable energy and low carbon solutions. It is designed to demonstrate cost-efficient solutions that will enable the commercial capture of wind energy in deep-water environments. Statoil says that the technology to be used in the project has been tested for six years with excellent results in a demonstration project off the coast of Norway.
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