Avangrid's New England Offshore Windfarm Becomes Next Victim of Trump's War on Wind

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The Trump administration has made many moves over the past several days against permitted offshore wind projects. Similar to Tuesday's court filing against Ocean Winds North America's (Boston, Massachusetts) 2.4-gigawatt (GW) SouthCoast Wind project, on Wednesday attorneys for the Department of Justice submitted a court filing saying it would move to revoke the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's (BOEM) approval of the New England Wind offshore development by October 10.

New England Wind is being developed by Avangrid Incorporated (Orange, Connecticut), a subsidiary of Spain's Iberdrola (Bilbao). The construction and operations plan (COP) for the development was approved by the BOEM last year for an area about 30 miles off the coast from Barnstable, Massachusetts. Last year, the project was split into two stages, New England Wind 1 and New England Wind 2, which together would add more than 2 gigawatts of power to grid. New England 1 would have contributed an initial 791 megawatts by 2029. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Project Database can learn more by viewing the related project reports.

The challenge to the BOEM's approval initially came from the ACK For Whales group in a Washington, D.C. federal court. In the filing, the group claimed the approval process violated multiple environmental statutes and failed to consider air pollution and the windfarm's effect on the fishing and lobster industries. According to Wednesday's court filing, the administration has asked the court to remand the challenge, stating that "federal defendants are intending to move no later than October 10 to remand and, separately, to vacate BOEM's COP approval."

In what is perhaps a more positive story relating to the administration's latest offshore wind crackdown, developer US Wind (Baltimore, Maryland), which is expecting to have the permit for its 2.1-GW windfarm off the Maryland coast revoked next week, has said it will proceed with the revitalization of a former Bethlehem Steel steel mill on the outskirts of Baltimore to manufacture steel components for the wind sector. The announcement comes despite the Trump administration's withdrawing more than $47 million in previously designated funding from the project last week.

This week, US Wind said work at the mill "will continue to move forward, ultimately bringing hundreds of manufacturing jobs to the Baltimore region." The facility is expected to produce towers and monopiles for the wind power sector, and in this week's announcement of the project's continuation, US Wind said some of the steel would go toward shipbuilding, an industrial sector the administration is attempting to revitalize in the U.S.

Nancy Sopko, US Wind's vice president for external affairs, wrote in a statement: "There continues to be a robust market for steel components for the energy and shipbuilding industries, and US Wind is confident that just as steel has been a key part of the region's past, Sparrows Point Steel will be an important part of Maryland's industrial future."

Subscribers to Industrial Info's GMI Metals & Minerals Project Database can learn more by viewing the project report.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).