Obama administration to give $170 million for offshore wind projects
Washington (Platts)--12Dec2012/313 pm EST/2013 GMT
The Obama administration will provide $170 million in funding for seven
wind projects as part of an effort to launch the US offshore wind industry
amid low natural gas prices and looming expiration of a key industry subsidy,
the Department of Energy said Wednesday.
US Energy Secretary Steven Chu said federal money for these projects off
Maine, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Texas and Virginia will be used for wind
installations in state and federal waters. Some of these projects could be in
commercial operation by 2017.
"The United States has tremendous untapped clean energy resources, and
it is important for us to develop technologies that will allow us to utilize
those resources in ways that are economically viable," Chu said in a
statement. The funding "paves the way to a cleaner, more sustainable and more
diverse domestic energy portfolio that develops every source of American
energy."
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Under the funding program, each project will receive up to $4 million
for engineering, design and permitting work. DOE then plans to pick up to
three projects which will receive up to $47 million each over four years for
siting, construction and installation costs in order to be in operation by
2017.
The projects to receive federal dollars under Wednesday's announcement
include proposals to build four 3-MW turbines by Statoil and two 6-MW
turbines by the University of Maine, both offshore Maine; two 6-MW turbines
offshore Virginia Beach by Dominion; five 6-MW turbines by Principle Power
near Coos Bay, Oregon; three 6-MW turbines by Baryonyx Corporation near Port
Isabel, Texas; nine 3-MW turbines by Lake Erie Development Corporation near
Cleveland; and a proposal by Fisherman's Atlantic City Windfarm for offshore
New Jersey.
DOE in 2011 awarded $42 million to 42 wind research and development
projects in the Great Lakes, along the Atlantic Coast and the Gulf of Mexico.
The federal awards come at a time when many experts believe offshore
wind projects may be impractical due to the comparatively high costs of
construction, the low price of natural gas and the expiration of the
production tax credit for wind, set for the end of this year.
--Brian Scheid, brian_scheid@platts.com
--Edited by Richard Rubin, richard_rubin@platts.com