According to the text of the plan, temporary production tax credits have ”created an uncertain investment climate, undermined the effectiveness of our tax expenditures and hindered the development of a clean energy sector in the United States.”

Consultants Want More Details From Fishermen’s Energy Project

Consultants hired by the state of New Jersey to review the Fishermen’s Energy offshore wind farm, slated for state waters near Atlantic City, have said the project needs to provide more details, Philly.com reported today.

The consultants did not recommend rejecting the project. Their primary criticism was not, in fact, directly related to the project itself, according to the report. In its recommendation to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, the consultant said the company needed to  provide more information about potential negative job impact due to increased electric rates.

“Net benefits of the project were not demonstrated because key underlying assumptions of applicants’ cost-benefit analysis were not adequately substantiated,” the consultants said.

The January 3 report said that “the ISO and its consultants … have determined that it is unlikely that the project will achieve Commercial Operation” by June 1, 2015.

The company disagreed with the ISO New England assessment.

“We think it is very likely we’ll be online by June 2015, either in whole or in part,” said Cape Wind Vice President Dennis Duffy.

Atlantic City Project Aims For 2013 Commissioning

Fishermen’s Energy vice president and senior counsel Paul Gallagher said yesterday that his company’s Atlantic City offshore wind project is almost ready to begin construction, the Press of Atlantic City reported today.

Construction is waiting on a decision in March from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities on the sale of the project’s electricity.

“We have arranged our financing, selected our turbines and lined up our contractors … We are, in what Obamaspeak refers to, as ‘shovel ready,’” Gallagher said. The decision in March “will allow us to put steel in the water next summer (2013), with turbines installed in August and power being generated by Labor Day 2013.”

Maryland Rallies For Offshore Wind

Over 100 protesters rallied at the Maryland statehouse this week to urge state lawmakers to support Gov. Martin O’Malley’s offshore wind plan, the Huffington Post reported.

The Sustainable Business Forum blog reported the comments from a press briefing held late last month at the National Press Club.

Delaware Online reported on Friday that the NRG Bluewater Wind project is still alive.

North American Windpower reported today that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is seeking comments on proposed lease-sale auction formats for offshore wind projects.

The publication also reported last Friday that Fishermen’s Energy recently installed a Lockheed Martin LIDAR wind measurement device to provide offshore wind data.

The project, situated in state waters, could qualify for an expiring federal tax incentive if construction begins before December 31. According to the Times report, the project is slated to cost between $200 and $250 million.

“I don’t like to say we’re going to be first, but we have a good shot,’’ said Rhonda Jackson, director of project development at Fishermen’s Energy.

Utilities Reject Renewable Energy Merger Requirement

Two utilities seeking a merger have told Massachusetts regulators that requiring a renewable energy purchase — including one from offshore wind — would be unconstitutional, the Associated Press reported yesterday.

Massachusetts officials have been pressuring NStar and Northeast Utilities to buy electricity from Cape Wind as a prerequisite to their proposed merger.

“The Department has no authority under (state law), or any other statutory provision to impose a requirement to enter into a long-term contract for renewable power,” the utilities wrote in a filing to the Department of Public Utilities, which reviews the merger.

Seemingly leaving themselves room to maneuver, the companies also wrote that the issue “would not exist if NSTAR Electric were to unilaterally decide to enter into a contract with Cape Wind.”

According to the report, AECOM has begun pre-construction work on the pilot project and will eventually oversee procurement, construction and commissioning.

Atlantic Wind Connection Pitches Project To New Jersey Communities

Atlantic Wind Connection officials have presented their project for an undersea offshore wind transmission backbone at two New Jersey informational sessions and will hold two more in July, Patch.com reported today.

“These discussions have been an invaluable way for us to introduce the backbone transmission line project in an informal setting that has allowed for expansive dialogue from attendees,” said Atlantic Wind Connection CEO Robert Mitchell. “This educational process is important for us to undertake in order to learn of the local interest in offshore wind and explain how the Atlantic Wind Connection will provide the foundation, the inter-state highway for offshore wind that will enable the new industry to create thousands of jobs for New Jersey.”

The electricity would come from a planned 1,000 megawatt wind farm that the developer has planned for Rhode Island Sound and would be transmitted by undersea cable. The company’s existing power purchase agreement — for its much smaller pilot offshore wind farm near Block Island — calls for National Grid to buy the electricity at 24.4 cents per kilowatt hour in the first year of operations. The difference in this most current bid, company officials said, was the larger scale and the dramatically improved economies of scale.

“The best chance that we see of getting to large projects in the U.S. is to start off with small projects,” said Jeffrey Grybowski, Deepwater’s chief administrative officer.

LEEDCo Wants Offshore Wind Farm Operational By 2013

The Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation, the non-profit organization seeking to develop a pilot offshore wind project near Cleveland, wants to begin construction next year and have the project operational in 2013, Reuters reported on Friday.

Freshwater Wind — a consortium of developers formed to build the project — could reach a power purchase agreement with utilities in the next month, according to the Reuters report.

“We think there is great value in being first, because our goal is not just to generate electricity,” said Dennis Eckart, a strategic adviser to LEEDCo. “One of our main goals is to create a supply chain industry that will support the building and deployment of these turbines.”

Atlantic City Project Receives Permits

Fishermen’s Energy has received its final state permits to build its six-turbine pilot project near Atlantic City, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.

The company received an electric-line easement as well as permission to build on the particular site, according to the report. Before it can move forward, the project still needs a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers as well as financing, according to company officials.

Bloomberg reported that the work to lay electrical cables could begin in December and wind farm construction could begin as early as May 2012.

Construction on the project could begin next year, according to the report.

“The development of offshore wind projects off New Jersey’s coast is a priority for the Christie Administration,” said Bob Martin, commissioner for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, which issued the permits. “The governor is committed to making the state a leader in this new industry, with its environmental and economic benefits. This is a great first step forward in making this a reality for New Jersey.”

The company is now waiting for a wildlife-related permit from the Army Corps of Engineers and a state permit to bring the transmission cable to shore.

Local officials welcomed the project.

“The turbines Fishermen’s Energy will install will be visible from the boardwalk,” said Bruce Ward, Atlantic City’s solicitor. “We’re looking to welcome our visitors to another attraction, if you will.”

Michigan Offshore Wind Ban Bill Sent To Committee

“We’re going to directionally drill under the beach and pull the cable through a conduit so there’s no impact to (the) beach,” said NRG Bluewater Wind CEO Peter Mandelstam. “We want to make sure, again, that we never cut into the beach or into the zone just offshore.”

According to the report, the project will begin in 2013 and will be completed in about eight to 10 weeks.

Fishermen’s Energy Says It Can Build 25 MW Project “Next Year”

Wind energy developer Fishermen’s Energy says that it can build its six-turbine demonstration project near Atlantic City in 2013 because the wind farm will be in state waters, the Newark Star-Ledger reported yesterday.

“This is a project we could build next year,” Fishermen’s Energy President Daniel Cohen told the paper last week.  “We could be first in the country.”

A consortium of developers — Garden State Offshore Energy — is pushing for the state to approve one developer to build a large wind farm in order to encourage manufacturing plants to support the effort.

“We think that a larger project can offer benefits and savings over three smaller projects,” Garden State Vice President Robert Gibbs said.

Op-Ed: Maryland Offshore Wind Will Create Jobs

In an opinion piece published in the Washington Post today, National Resources Defense Council attorney Brandi Colander said that offshore wind development could provide “400 to 600 upfront jobs for Marylanders, and thousands of jobs to support this industry over time.”

“Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley wasn’t tilting at windmills when he recently announced a plan to ramp up offshore wind power,” Colander wrote.  “He was mapping a course to clean the air we breathe, fight climate change, create jobs, reduce health costs and bring industry to the state all at the same time. And he’s doing it in the perfect time and place: The number of unemployed Marylanders now tops 219,000, and the state is suffering disproportionately high health impacts because of its reliance on dirty fuels.”

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities approved guidelines for the certificates last week.  The system is based on the state’s solar incentive program, which requires conventional energy producers to purchase a certain amount of certificates.

Fishermen’s Energy is planning a six-turbine offshore wind farm in state waters near Atlantic City and a larger project further offshore in federal waters.

Virginia Town Wants To Be Offshore Wind Base

The town of Cape Charles, Virginia, sent a letter last week to Gov. Bob McDonnell in an effort to position itself as a base for offshore wind construction and maintenance operations, Delmarva Now reported today.

According to the report, Mayor Dora Sullivan used the letter to point out the town’s deep water commercial harbor and to invite the governor to visit personally.

Massachusetts Releases Coastal Planning Tool

Massachusetts state officials this week released an online coastal mapping tool that can assist in the siting of offshore wind projects.

Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Richard Sullivan said that he hopes “coastal communities and environmental planners will use this tool to help support their work to protect our coastline and marine resources.”

Last year, Massachusetts released the first state ocean zoning effort in the country and identified two areas suitable for large scale offshore wind development.  According to a press release, this online tool provides “data on existing ocean infrastructure, seafloor features and wildlife habitat … to support renewable energy project siting and permitting.”

The tool can be found at http://www.mass.gov/czm/mapping.

Under current regulations, when BOEMRE launches an offshore wind leasing process the agency is required to issue two separate notices to determine if there is competitive interest in a particular leasing area.  The agency is seeking to remove the second notice, which is intended to confirm the lack of competitive interest.  According to remarks prepared for a speech yesterday in Boston, Bromwich said that BOEMRE attempted to remove this rule in November, 2010, but “received comments that were significantly adverse” and “as a result we are pursuing a more conventional rulemaking process to implement this important efficiency.”

The agency is planning to publish the relevant notice in the Federal Register within the next 30 days.

“This rule would establish consistent processes and increase efficiency, reduce confusion, and prevent unnecessary delay,” Bromwich said.

In his prepared remarks, Bromwich also suggested that the agency might soon issue requests for interest in several Atlantic states.

“We have already issued Requests for Interest – or RFIs – for proposed lease areas for wind energy development off the coasts of Delaware, Maryland and Massachusetts.  We’re working on initiating commercial leasing offshore New Jersey, Virginia and Rhode Island in the near future and offshore of southern states such as North Carolina later this year.”

Fishermen Meet With Fishermen’s Energy, Express Concerns

Fishermen met yesterday in Massachusetts with an offshore wind developer and expressed their concerns about the compatibility of offshore wind farms and the fishing industry, South Coast Today reported.

Daniel Cohen, president of New Jersey-based Fishermen’s Energy, met with the fishermen in New Bedford and told the group that “offshore wind is happening.”  He reportedly fielded several complaints from fishermen who believe the projects will impact their livelihoods.

According to South Coast Today, Cohen said that when it comes to the co-existence of commercial fishing and offshore wind facilities, “the data from Europe is not very good.”