US inches toward 2030 offshore wind target with ninth approved project

Avangrid

02/07/2024 14:00

By Valerie Volcovici
       WASHINGTON, July 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. Interior
Department on Tuesday approved the ninth commercial-scale
offshore wind project, bringing the Biden administration closer
to its goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity
by 2030.
    
    KEY QUOTE
    "Today's milestone is yet another step toward our ambitious
goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore energy by 2030," said
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
    
    WHY IT IS IMPORTANT
    The approval for the New Jersey project brings the U.S. over
a third of the way to the 2030 goal - a key part of President
Joe Biden's climate change agenda - amid setbacks to other
offshore wind projects.
    Soaring materials costs, high interest rates and delays in
supply chain last year led project developers including Orsted
 ORSTED.CO , Equinor  EQNR.OL , BP  BP.L , Avangrid  AGR.N  and
Shell  SHEL.L  to cancel or seek to renegotiate power contracts
for planned commercial-scale U.S. wind farms, with operating
start dates between 2025 and 2028.
   
    CONTEXT
    In addition to economic hurdles, offshore wind has become a
target of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who
pledged to halt offshore wind projects if he wins the November
elections. Trump has repeatedly cited false claims being
circulated by opposition groups that turbines kill whales and
fish.
  
    THE DETAILS
    The Atlantic Shores South wind project is expected to
generate up to 2,800 megawatts of electricity, enough to power
close to one million homes, the Interior Department said. The
project is approximately 8.7 miles offshore New Jersey. 
     

 (Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Sherry
Jacob-Phillips)
 ((valerie.volcovici@thomsonreuters.com;))