Wind turbines, solar panels and coal-fired power station in China.
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The United States is generating less than 1% of the wind power it wants to generate by 2030. But a massive vessel that promises to change that is about 89% built, and when it’s done next year, the real race to catch up begins. the difference.
The ship, named Charybdis after a mythological Greek sea monster, won’t set sail until next year, possibly after one of the greenest energy administrations in history leaves the White House. And as Eric Hines, director of Tufts University’s offshore wind graduate program, says, “We’re going to need somewhere on the order of five of these installation ships in just a few years.”
The Biden administration wants the US to generate 30,000 megawatts of wind power over the next five and a half years. As of last year, that number was just 42 megawatts, putting the nation well behind Europe — which added 18,300 megawatts of new wind capacity in 2023 alone. according to WindEurope.
In recent years, the construction of huge offshore wind farms has come with headwinds from supply chain hurdles to higher interest rates. But the U.S. faces an added logistical puzzle from a 100-year-old maritime law that, along with these other factors, has contributed to project delays and even cancellations.
The outcome of the November election is not likely to affect Charybdis, whose operator plans to take advantage of green energy tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act. But the prospect of a new administration far less enthusiastic about renewable energy could stymie additional projects.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump argued at a rally in New Jersey in May that offshore wind farms were harming whales, saying, “We’re going to make sure it ends on day one. I’m going to put it in an executive order.” (“There are no known relationships between large whale deaths and ongoing offshore wind activity,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration he said.)
The first important parts of the boat were set in 2020, kicking off a $625 million project between Dominion Energy and Seatrium AmFELS, which is building the massive vessel at its Brownsville, Texas shipyard. At more than 30,000 tons and with 58,000 square feet of deck space, Charybdis will be able to carry 12 blades at a time, each measuring 357 feet and weighing 60 tons.
We’ll need somewhere in the order of five of these deployment containers in just a few years.
Eric Hines
Tufts University Professor
As important as its technical specifications, the vessel will also be able to meet the requirements of the Jones Act, a 1920 merchant marine law that says cargo shipped from one point to another within the US must be carried by an American vessel . And so far, there is no US vessel capable of transporting wind turbine components directly from shore to installation sites miles offshore.
Charybdis’ first project will be the Dominion offshore wind farm under development 24 miles east of Virginia Beach. Once complete, its 176 turbines are expected to produce 2,600 megawatts of energy, enough to power more than 900,000 homes. But to install its first two pilot turbines, it had to source the components in Canada to comply with the Jones Act, adding long travel times and associated costs.
“Obviously, you don’t want to install a large project like this,” said Mark Mitchell, Dominion Energy’s senior vice president overseeing the Coast Virginia Offshore Wind project — which, at $9.8 billion, is currently the largest and more expensive in the country. .
Instead, Charybdis will be able to collect components on shore, sail to the wind farm site and plant itself on the ocean floor using four 30-story legs that will turn the ship into a construction platform. Then, using a jib crane larger than 20 full-size vehicles lined up bumper to bumper, assembly of the turbines will begin.
After the Virginia project is completed, the vessel will be available for contract to other offshore wind projects along the nation’s coastline. Mitchell hopes Charybdis can do more than complete wind farms already in the works, but inspire developers and designers to propose new ones as well.
“It’s a little bit of the chicken or the egg. As we start to get the projects under way, others can commit to infrastructure like this,” Mitchell said, adding that state and federal incentives “will flow right through to our customers.”
But in other cases, federal subsidies weren’t enough to offset rising costs. One major reason: the Federal Reserve, which raised interest rates 11 times between March 2022 and July 2023, the fastest pace it has raised rates since the early 1980s.
It’s a bit of the chicken or the egg. As we begin to take on the projects, others can commit to infrastructure like this.
Mark Mitchell
Dominion Energy
Higher interest rates make it more expensive to finance large construction projects such as wind farms.
“The cost of construction is very high,” Hines said. “If you imagine the time it takes to build a project, you don’t make money on the project. And as much money as you borrow that time to build the project, there’s a premium on that money, and the lower the interest rates, the better.”
Last year, Danish company Orsted canceled two projects off the coast of New Jersey, citing “challenging” conditions.
“Macroeconomic factors have changed dramatically in a short period of time, with high inflation, rising interest rates and supply chain bottlenecks affecting our long-term capital investments,” Orsted he said in October. The company paid the state $125 million to stop growth.
The Biden administration acknowledges pressure from higher interest rates and points to IRA tax credits as a way to offset them.
“We know there are many different tools that will help us overcome some of these macroeconomic challenges,” said Jeff Marootian, principal deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
He acknowledged that the Biden administration’s goal of 30,000 megawatts of wind power is “ambitious,” but pointed to projects underway as a sign of things to come. The Department of Energy counted nearly $6 billion investments in the development of offshore wind energy in recent years, including in 17 production plants and 15 ports.
“These kinds of investments we need to continue to see to achieve the president’s goals,” Maroutian said.
