Offshore

US offshore wind industry makes progress in Q3 despite woes

US offshore wind industry makes progress in Q3 despite woes
(Image by Andrew Martin from Pixabay.)

The U.S. offshore wind industry continued its forward progress despite severe financial challenges in the third quarter of 2023 which was highlighted by construction progress at the nation’s first two commercial-scale projects and critical permitting milestones at other projects.

As Vineyard Wind and South Fork Wind sit on the precipice of delivering their first power to the grid, the pipeline of projects approved for construction has tripled in size with more projects just weeks away from achieving final approval themselves. These and other findings are detailed in the Business Network for Offshore Wind’s U.S. Offshore Wind Quarterly Market Report, which documents key investments announced over the past three months, growth in state demand for offshore wind, and notable policy advancements that drove the U.S. market forward between July and September 2023.

Along with steady progress on the first commercial-scale projects and a flurry of project approvals, the third quarter saw California move closer to offshore wind deployment with new authority to buy power generation as well as New England states strengthen their collaboration. Despite this progress, significant cost increases due to global economic turmoil resulted in contract terminations, delaying project deployment.

“The U.S. offshore wind market felt its growing pains over the past quarter, taking two steps forward and two steps back. We celebrated our first two utility-scale projects on the verge of delivering power to the grid, a monumental milestone a decade in the making—but simultaneously suffer project delays and continued supply chain challenges,” said Liz Burdock, founder and CEO of the Business Network for Offshore Wind. “Building up a new industry was always going to include challenges and setbacks; right now we must remain diligent in our work to build a sustainable industry and supply chain. Beyond the headlines, we saw important advancements in our permitting process, state collaboration, and continued supply chain development that will lay the foundation for long-term market strength.”

The Network’s U.S. Offshore Wind Quarterly Market Report shares details on events, market trends, supply chain advancements, and policy changes. The report details:

  • The pipeline of projects permitted for construction tripled in the third quarter of 2023, up to 2.7 GW, with more approvals expected to come in the fourth quarter.
  • Three projects, totaling 3.2 GW, have officially announced contract terminations. Each project will attempt to secure a new contract in upcoming state procurement rounds.  
  • East Coast states increased their coordination, highlighted by new procurement rounds in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
  • Vessel-building and secondary steel manufacturing delivered strong performances among offshore wind supply chain subsectors.
  • New York is expected to award new power agreements in the fourth quarter, and with that could come new investments in turbine blade and nacelle facilities.

The offshore wind industry has been grappling with uncertainties recently, with multiple power purchase agreements (PPAs) coming to an end, and developers and utilities backing out of projects.

Rhode Island Energy recently pulled out of its PPA with Ørsted and Eversource for the Revolution Wind 2 offshore project, citing higher interest rates, increased expenses, and questionable federal tax credits, concluding that the project had become uneconomical.

In July, Avangrid agreed to pay $48 million to pull out of a PPA with Eversource Energy, National Grid, and Unitil for another offshore wind project, the 1,223 MW Commonwealth Wind located 20 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard. Rhode Island Energy, meanwhile, terminated its PPA with Ørsted and Eversource for the offshore wind farm Revolution Wind 2.