Offshore wind could be competitive with existing generation in the Northeast within a decade, according to the second National Offshore Wind Strategy, released last week by the U.S. departments of Energy and the Interior.
The report cites a new cost analysis by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory that predicts offshore wind costs could drop below $100/MWh between 2025 and 2030. “Assuming near-term deployment of offshore wind at a scale sufficient to support market competition and the growth of a supply chain, development of offshore wind energy in markets with relatively high electricity costs, such as the Northeast, could be cost-competitive within a decade,” it said.
The report, a joint project of the Energy Department’s Wind Energy Technologies Office and the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, updates the government’s first strategy, which was published in 2011. Officials estimate U.S. waters have a “technical potential” of 2,058 GW — nearly double the nation’s electric usage.
The report outlines 30 steps the two agencies plan to take to reach that potential, including reducing technical costs and risks, making the regulatory process more predictable and transparent, and improving market conditions for investment by quantifying the impact of integrating large amounts of offshore wind to the grid.
As of the end of 2015, BOEM has awarded 11 commercial leases for offshore wind development capable of producing 14.6 GW of capacity. Construction of the nation’s first offshore commercial wind farm, off Block Island, R.I., was completed last month and is expected to begin operations by the end of 2016.
Feds Halt Dakota Access After Judge Denies Tribe’s Request
The Obama administration ordered a halt to construction of the Dakota Access oil pipeline Friday, minutes after a federal judge rejected a request by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to halt construction of the $3.8 billion, 1,172-mile crude oil pipeline.
The departments of Justice and Interior and the Army jointly ordered work to stop on one segment of the project in North Dakota, where it crosses under the Missouri River near the Standing Rock reservation, and asked developer Energy Transfer Partners to “voluntarily pause” action on a wider span on private land that the tribe says holds sacred artifacts. The tribe has challenged the Army Corps of Engineers’ decision to grant permits for the pipeline at more than 200 water crossings.
In his ruling, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said that the court “does not lightly countenance any depredation of lands that hold significance” to the tribe, but nonetheless said the tribe “has not demonstrated that an injunction is warranted here.”
More: The Associated Press; The New York Times
Bay Names Andrea McBarnette FERC Administrative Law Judge
FERC Chairman Norman Bay appointed Andrea McBarnette, former federal prosecutor and administrative law judge with the Social Security Administration, to be an ALJ for the commission.
A 1997 graduate of Georgetown University Law Center who earned her undergraduate degree from Stanford University, McBarnette built a private law practice in intellectual property, employment law and securities fraud. She then became an assistant U.S. Attorney for the U.S. District Court for D.C. She became an ALJ for the Social Security Administration last year.
“I am pleased to welcome Judge McBarnette to the commission,” Bay said. “I am confident that her experience will serve the public and our stellar ALJ office.”
More: FERC
NRC to Review Generator Failure at Wolf Creek Nuclear Station
Operators of the Wolf Creek nuclear generating station in Kansas are scheduled to meet with Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff to review the failure of an emergency backup diesel generator during a test two years ago. The commission released its preliminary findings of the 2014 incident, when a faulty electrical component kept the emergency diesel generator from starting up when called on.
The findings come just days after the Coffey County plant shut down following a reactor cooling system leak, quickly followed by a magnitude 5.6 earthquake that was centered near Pawnee, Okla. Plant officials said the station was scheduled to go offline for a refueling outage in mid-September, so they decided to keep it idle until the refueling is completed.
More: KVOE
EPA’s Smog Rule Doesn’t Impress Environmentalists
An EPA update to its Cross-State Air Pollution Rule falls short of what some environmentalists wanted to see. An attorney for the Sierra Club, Zachary Fabish, said the updated rule calls for only “modest” emissions reductions for 22 states in the South, Midwest and East Coast.
The new rules would cut ground-level ozone, or smog, by 80,000 tons by 2017. The states covered by the smog rule are: Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
More: Morning Consult
Renewable, Green Energy Groups Push for Tax Credit Extensions
Trade groups representing the biomass, hydro and other energy industries are putting pressure on Congress to extend tax credits seen as vital to helping their businesses compete with solar and wind.
If the tax credits now afforded to them expire at the end of the year, they say, “the end result is less reliable renewable baseload power will be deployed, which we believe is not the intent or desire of Congress and not in line with an all-of-the-above energy strategy.” While many hydro and biomass tax credits expire in December, credits for wind remain until the end of 2019.
The letter was written to congressional leaders by the National Hydropower Association, American Biogas Council, Biomass Power Association and Energy Recovery Council.
More: The Hill