By David Wojick
My research report – Maine’s Massive “Floating Wind” Folly – is up on the Net Zero Reality Coalition web page hosted by CFACT which sponsored the research. See https://www.cfact.org/netzerorealitycoalition/, which also has other research reports.
Here’s my Executive Summary, followed by the latest bad news on this ridiculous saga.
“Executive Summary
This report examines several fundamental aspects of the State of Maine’s offshore wind development plan. It is divided into two parts. Part 1 examines specific economic issues, such as feasibility, cost, and progress to date. Part 2 explores the proposed development as it relates to the entire Gulf of Maine, which is because the project has not progressed until the State of Maine’s responsibility has been determined.
The offshore wind plan calls for the development of 3,000 MW of generating capacity, an amount that is roughly twice Maine’s average electricity use. The viability of Maine’s offshore wind plans depends heavily on the transformation of the state’s grid from fossil fuel use to electrification. It is clear that the citizens of Maine have not been informed of the requirements of this extensive transformation. He certainly didn’t approve.
Offshore wind facilities will include many “floating turbines” operating at scales and levels of reliability that have not yet been verified to work in the real world. These assumptions make the whole plan not only technologically speculative but also extremely risky.
Extrapolating the cost of a small-scale facility today would put the price tag of this project at around $100 billion. That could increase significantly if hurricane-resistant technologies are developed and adopted, if available. It’s important to let Maine residents know about the enormous cost, as well as the greater cost of electricity required to operate.
The state of Maine has begun development of a facility to produce floating wind turbines. The effort appears to be heavily dependent on securing a nearly half-billion-dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. But these grants are likely illegal because the program is meant to finance highway projects, not offshore wind development. We will explore in this report.
On the environmental impact side of the equation, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is leasing 15,000 MW of offshore wind development sites in the Gulf of Maine. The 3,000 MW of development proposed by the State of Maine would come from several of these sites.
BOEM’s Environmental Assessment of this leasing program does not include the impacts of building and operating 15,000 MW of generating capacity. He said impacts would only be assessed for individual leases. This approach is flawed because full life cycle impacts must be assessed prior to leasing, including the combined impacts of all leases taken together. Cumulative impact assessment is important because it can affect the viability and nature of the lease.
An important requirement for “cumulative impact” is also needed to assess the project’s impact on endangered whales, particularly the endangered North Atlantic Right Whale. The Gulf of Maine is designated as critical habitat for Right Whales under the Endangered Species Act.
The Environmental Assessment does not include a leasehold sonar survey prior to construction. A new analysis has determined these surveys may be responsible for many whale deaths along the Atlantic coast. Therefore, BOEM and NOAA must carefully consider the impact of leasehold surveys on whales before surveys are approved.
End of Executive Summary. Now for the bad news.
BOEM is scheduled to sell the Gulf of Maine lease on October 29, 2024, before the election. They are trying to beat the clock since President Trump has promised to kill offshore wind if elected. Of course, they can also try to grant leases before inauguration because the development of leases awarded is more difficult to stop.
Note that at the end of the Executive Summary above, I discussed BOEM, including the leasehold sonar survey in the Environmental Assessment (EA). What was promised in the EA concept, but in the final EA, it was only published to create a way to sell quickly, the assessment was discarded. No doubt, this is to avoid the recent findings that sonar surveys can lead to whale deaths in large numbers.
If Trump wins, I would like to see a separate Transition Team for BOEM hand in his resignation letter. The BoEM ignored the dishonorable death of the whale.
The report is here: http://www.cfact.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Maines-massive-floating-wind-folly.pdf
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