“This is a big undertaking, but it’s not one beyond our grasp,” O’Malley told the Maryland House Economic Matters Committee.

An aide to the governor explained changes to this year’s version of the plan, including an amendment ensuring that businesses would pay the same electricity rate as residential customers; the measure already proposes to cap any increases in a business’ power expenses at 2.5 percent of its annual outlay.  Another tweak would ease business obligations to help subsidize other renewable energy projects.

North Carolina Offshore Wind At Least Five Years Away

North Carolina offshore wind experts have said that the Tarheel State will not see turbines off the coast for at least five years, Windturbines.net reported.

The estimate was contained in a report released by the governor’s office earlier this month.

“It’s not an industry that happens really fast,” said Brian O’Hara of the North Carolina Offshore Wind Coalition. “With the permitting and environmental studies that have to take place, the earliest we would see something off our coast is probably in the 2017-2018 time period.”

The report determined that North Carolina has the strongest resource on the Atlantic Coast and called the ocean off the North Carolina coast “a prime area for offshore wind development.”

The report also determined that most offshore wind near North Carolina will be developed in federal water — more than three miles off the coast.

Gov. Bev Perdue praised the panel for “critical thinking and sound advice so North Carolina can move ahead, in a responsible way, to look at developing offshore energy resources.”

The panel encouraged state leaders to engage with industry to develop the necessary supply chain to build and service offshore wind farms.

Will Morgan, director of Government Relations for the NC Sierra Club, said that the report echoes earlier findings from university and think tank research.

“We look forward to working with the legislature to make the possibility of thousands of jobs and the clean, renewable energy the offshore wind industry would bring to our state a reality,” Morgan said. “It’s becoming clear that offshore wind is a better option than drilling off our coast.”

The project would be supported by up to $530,000 in Energy Department funding, according to the report.

Maryland Labor Groups Want Guarantees

Maryland labor groups are asking for guaranteed involvement in offshore wind development in exchange for their support on Gov. Martin O’Malley’s resubmitted plans, the Baltimore Sun reported Friday.

“There’s got to be something written in the bill to include organized labor for us to totally commit to the project,” said Rod Easter, president of the Baltimore Building & Construction Trades Council. “We cannot be standing on the curb watching people go to work who don’t live in Maryland.”

Former Congressman In Spotlight For Consulting Work

Former Massachusetts congressman William Delahunt’s office denied any conflict of interest in consulting work on an offshore wind project for which he also earmarked federal funds, the Boston Globe reported.

Delahunt helped the town of Hull receive $1.7 million in federal funds for an offshore wind project and recently received a $72,000 contract to provide strategic guidance on the same issue.

“I think what’s been spun out there is that somehow we’ve been hired by the town to lobby, and that’s not true,’’ said Mark Forest, executive director of The Delahunt Group. “We’re not lobbying; we’re providing guidance and counsel to the town … we’ve had a lot of experience in this area. And our hope is that there is something productive that can be done in this area.’’

Wittman introduced H.R. 2173, the Advancing Offshore Wind Production Act, to reduce what he sees as unnecessary regulation that is hampering temporary monitoring infrastructure. The National Wildlife Federation has opposed the bill, saying that inconsistent federal incentives — not over-regulation — is the real barrier to offshore wind development.

“We must continue to develop energy for this country, and allow innovators to develop clean energy by removing unnecessary government over-regulation,” Wittman said.

Renewable Energy World Analyzes Southern Offshore Wind Progress

In an analysis published yesterday, Renewable Energy World focused particular attention on offshore wind development in North and South Carolina.

“There’s a lot happening in a lot of different places,” said Fara Courtney, executive director of the US Offshore Wind Collaborative. “The industry needs to develop on a regional level because it needs to be at a market-scale to leverage investment to create manufacturing facilities. The states are going to compete with each other, which is also going to drive things, but they need to develop regional markets.”

The article made note of a recent offshore wind meeting between officials and organizations from the two Carolinas.

The meeting was “a great first step in organizing the Southeastern states and working together towards some common goals,” said Hamilton Davis of the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League.

“Our states are uniquely positioned with strengths and advantages that complement each other.” said Elizabeth Colbert-Busch of the Clemson University Restoration Institute, which has been heavily involved in offshore wind research.

The meeting included the Energy Department’s Savannah River National Laboratory, utility Santee Cooper, the North Carolina Offshore Wind Coalition, the North Carolina Department of Commerce, the North Carolina Solar Center, the North Carolina Energy Office, the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association, the South Carolina Energy Office, the Clemson University Restoration Institute, Coastal Carolina University, the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League, North Strand Coastal Wind Team, and the City of North Myrtle Beach.

Officials Say Utility Merger Will Not Depend On Cape Wind

A planned merger between utilities NStar and Northeast Utilities must offer “net benefits” to customers and the environment, but Massachusetts officials said that it will not hinge on the combined utility buying electricity from the planned Cape Wind project, the Boston Herald reported this week.

Mark Sylvia, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources, said that the purchase of electricity from Cape Wind and the utility merger are “apples and oranges.”

Earlier today, North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue issued an executive order creating the “Offshore Wind Economic Development Task Force.”

The executive order was issued in conjunction with the Governor’s veto of Senate Bill 709, which would have promoted offshore oil and gas as well as land-based gas “fracking”. In a statement, Governor Perdue stated that she was “completely committed to North Carolina’s energy policy of developing jobs that foster America’s energy independence.”

The executive order creates a 15-member task force with a chair appointed by the governor. The duties of the Task Force include studying the benefits of the state establishing a non-binding goal of developing 5,000 MW of offshore wind energy generation by 2030, examining the laws in North Carolina and other states to determine what policy framework is needed to support the offshore wind industry, and creating guidelines on viable areas for offshore wind facilities. The Task Force is to report their findings and recommendations to the Governor by March 31, 2012.

“I am impressed with the vision shown by Governor Bev Perdue today in recognizing the potential economic benefits of offshore wind to the state of North Carolina” said Brian O’Hara, president of the North Carolina Offshore Wind Coalition. “This is great news for offshore wind in North Carolina and the Southeast.”

A copy of Executive Order #96 can be found by following this link: http://www.governor.nc.gov/NewsItems/UploadedFiles/0348ffba-a810-4f08-b925-0baa2524c75e.pdf

Congress cut funding this year for the loan guarantee program, disrupting plans for offshore wind developers, including Cape Wind in Massachusetts and NRG Bluewater Wind in Delaware.  Bluewater announced this week that it is slowing work on its project in response to uncertain federal support.

In an audio clip posted to the WDEL Web site, Carper said that instead of seeking new funding it was possible to work with the federal Office of Management and Budget “to reprogram some … money to be able to use for this purpose, for the loan guarantee program.”

In an editorial posted last night, the Wilmington News Journal said that “a wind-power farm off Rehoboth Beach is still a good idea … What is keeping us from realizing that potential isn’t so much the technology or the science. It’s the economics — both in private industry and at the government level.”

“The economics problem is a tough one, however. The movement from the potential of offshore wind power to its reality will be costly and uncertain,” the editorial read. “The on-again, off-again nature of federal guarantees makes investments even less likely. Let’s not pretend we can develop a new energy industry without risk or some semblance of a reliable national policy.”

Apex Energy Applauds North Carolina Task Force Process

In a letter today to the Raleigh News and Observer, an Apex Wind Energy official applauded the state and federal task force process for determining appropriate areas for offshore wind development.

The letter was written by Development Manager Rob Propes in response to an article that suggested the task force was sharply limiting offshore wind development opportunity in the state.

“After removing environmentally sensitive areas, important commercial fishing grounds and hard bottom areas that tend to be more conducive to supporting marine life, the task force is working with a noncontiguous area approximately 3,680 square miles in size, capable of supporting as much as 50,000 megawatts of offshore wind energy,” Propes wrote. “By any measure, an area this expansive provides significant opportunity to develop a substantial amount of offshore wind energy … We are confident that, in the end, North Carolina will be left with one of, if not the largest areas along the Eastern Seaboard for offshore wind-energy development.”

Virginia Offshore Wind Event Planned For June 4

A coalition of environmental groups is holding a “citizen’s summit on offshore wind power” June 4 in Richmond.

The event is sponsored by Virginia Interfaith Power and Light, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, the Sierra Club, the Green Jobs Alliance, the Southern Environmental Law Center and the Virginia Conservation Network.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement’s Outer Continental Shelf Scientific Committee launched their annual three-day meeting in Massachusetts yesterday.

“In previous decades it’s not that there has been duplication, it’s that there’s been big data gaps,” said Michael Fry, chairman of the group and director of conservation advocacy for the American Bird Conservancy. “Every agency wants to fill them.”

“We have to figure out the best places where we can find compatible uses so that you don’t end up with the crazy thing that happened with Cape Wind where every time you turn around there’s another roadblock,” said Sally Yozell, director of policy and senior advisor to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Under Secretary of Commerce Jane Lubchenco.

Offshore Wind Blade Test Facility To Open Today

The nation’s largest wind blade testing facility — designed to test blades for offshore wind turbines — will officially open today in the Charlestown section of Boston, the Associated Press reported.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is expected at the event to cut the ribbon on the federally funded facility.

BOEMRE Task Force Reduces North Carolina Offshore Wind Area

The BOEMRE task force developing parameters for offshore wind development near North Carolina has reduced the available area for development from 10,564 square miles to 3,679 miles, the Raleigh News and Observer reported yesterday.

The work is ongoing and the group is expected to issue a formal report this summer.

Bluewater Wind Close To Choosing Turbine Maker

Proposed legislation in North Carolina may move that state closer to developing its impressive offshore wind resource.

Sponsored by Republican State Senator Fletcher Hartsell, the Offshore Wind Jobs and Economic Development Act (Senate Bill 747) is based on the premise that the benefits of building an offshore wind industry and generating electricity will outweigh the costs of doing so. The bill cites a range of benefits from offshore wind development in a way likely to appeal to a variety of interests. These benefits range from the jobs and tax dollars created by siting component manufacturing and supply chain operations in North Carolina to reducing the flow of money out of state for the purchase of fossil fuels used in electricity generation.

The preamble also notes that other benefits will accrue to the public at large from offshore wind development, including long-term energy price stability, decreased greenhouse gas emissions, a healthier environment, improved public health, increased energy security, and decreased reliance on and vulnerability from imported energy sources.

Based on these premises, SB 747 establishes a mechanism for the North Carolina Utilities Commission to require state utilities to make long-term contracts for 2,500 megawatts of offshore wind capacity to be built over a period of seven to ten years.  If enacted, the commission would issue a request for proposals by January 1, 2012. The RFP would call for proposals for projects for long-term contracting, with a minimum contract size of 350 MW per contract.  Project developers would have until by April 30, 2012 to submit bids, giving the commission until October 31 to conduct its evaluation of the proposals received. By the end of 2017, the bill envisions the first projects producing electricity.

Because the cost of such large-scale offshore wind programs is a key policy question, the bill gives the commission guidance to ensure that winning bids provide a net economic benefit to the state. In conjunction with the state Department of Commerce, the commission would evaluate statewide costs and benefits for a 20-year period, looking at a broad range of factors including the incremental electricity cost or savings to ratepayers, jobs and economic activity created by project development and operation, environmental and public health impacts, and impacts on tourism, recreational fishing, commercial fishing, and other existing industries.

The bill gives the commission an out if this evaluation finds that none of the proposals results in a net economic benefit to the North Carolina. On the other hand, if the commission found one or more bids meeting this test, it would then order most electric utilities in the state to enter into contracts with the winning projects. Each investor-owned utility would be required to buy power from winning projects in proportion to that utility’s share of the total megawatt hour load for all participating utilities.  The bill would allow utilities to recover all of its costs for these contracts through a rate rider or, if the contracts lower the cost of electricity, to offset electric rates by a comparable amount. To enhance utilities’ upside, the bill requires these contracts to give utilities an option to co-invest or purchase an ownership interest of up to 50 percent in the winning projects.

Senator Hartsell’s vision for North Carolina offshore wind doesn’t stop at 2500 MW. SB 747 includes a legislative declaration that the state has the goal of developing an additional 2,500 megawatts of offshore wind by 2030, resulting in a total targeted installed capacity of 5,000 megawatts by 2030.

Overall, SB 747 is one of the most ambitious legislative offshore wind proposals in the U.S. to date. By focusing on economic development and job growth, and by including provisions designed to ensure projects have a net benefit to the state, it seeks traction on economic ground where other proposals have foundered. The bill has been referred to the state Senate Committee on Commerce; while hearing dates have not yet been scheduled, the bill is expected to be heard before the General Assembly adjourns its session this summer.

Todd J. Griset practices energy law with Preti Flaherty Beliveau & Pachios in Maine. He also writes a blog on offshore wind, renewable energy and policy issues.

The report, from Colorado-based Pike Research, projects worldwide offshore wind capacity to increase from 4.1 gigawatts 70.1 GW.

“Some of the world’s best wind resources are located offshore,” senior Pike Research analyst Peter Asmus said.

RI Report Urges Caution On Offshore Wind Port Investments

A report commissioned by the Rhode Island legislature cautioned against extensive public invetsment in offshore wind port facilities, the Providence Business News reported today.

“The wind power market is uncertain, and investment in wind energy support and facilities should be placed on the private sector, not the state,” said the report by Martin Associates.

The report also claimed, however, that there was a disagreement between offshore wind developer Deepwater Wind and Davisville port officials on the need for dredging near a planned Deepwater Wind facility. Port officials and the company denied any disagreement.

Martin Associates could not explain why the report indicated that a disagreement existed, the Business Journal reported.

NC Bill Surprises Utilties Commission