1st US floating offshore wind auction nets $757M in bids

AP ^ | 12/07/2022

[devane617]

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The first-ever U.S. auction of leases to develop commercial-scale floating wind farms in the deep waters off the West Coast attracted $757 million in winning bids Wednesday from mostly European companies, in a project watched by other regions and countries just getting their own plans for floating offshore wind started.

The auction featured five lease areas — two in northern California and three in central California — about 25 miles off the coast that have the potential to generate 4.5 gigawatts of energy, enough for 1.5 million homes. Combined, the lease areas cover 583 square miles (1,510 square kilometers) of Pacific Ocean.

The winning bids came from Norway’s Equinor; California North Floating, part of Denmark’s Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners; Germany’s RWE AG, and Central California Offshore Wind, a part of the French and Portugese joint venture Ocean Winds. Invenergy was the only American company with a winning bid.

Offshore wind is well established in the U.K. and some other countries but is just beginning to ramp up off America’s coasts, and this is the nation’s first foray into floating wind turbines. U.S. auctions so far have been for those anchored to the seafloor.

[devane617]

Help me understand why these leases are auctioned instead of given for free to companies that can develop them? This $757M will need to be passed to consumers when this place is developed. Wouldn't it be better to give the leases out and require the companies to pass the savings to consumers. I must be missing something.

[Lurker]

“Wouldn’t it be better to give the leases out and require the companies to pass the savings to consumers. I must be missing something.”

But then how would all these wind farm companies donate the money they were just handed back to the politicians who gave it to them? They can run this scam for a decade before the entire scheme collapses in ruin. But money will change hands. Lots and lots of it.

L

[Organic Panic]

It will be fun watching the greenies eat each other over this. “Save the whales” vs “save the planet”

[hinckley buzzard]

Offshore wind is not “well established in the UK.” it is about bankrupt, and is why UK energy has skyrocketed in cost. They have some very costly windmills off the coast of Scotland and that’s about it. Offshore wind will never be cost effective.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

They are following the plan set out for auction of RF spectrum and leases of federal lands for minerals and grazing. It’s a “public resource” and should be sold, not given away. But the idea that WE pay for it in the products and energy we buy and that the money flows to FedGov is reprehensible.

[nascarnation]

There are a bunch of subsidies and incentives for union labor and native American involvement in this deal also. It’s a typical Wash DC load of crapola.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

This is utter lunacy. There's no worse place to put a power plant than offshore. It is about the most inclement location on the planet.

I worked on outdoor coal-fired boilers in really tough places (Wyoming, high desert of Arizona) and it is not easy keeping those plants running. It is a hundred times worse offshore.

This is a ten year old paper, so reliability has probably gotten better. But it was abysmal in 2012 and the climate in which these machines must operate has not gotten any better.

In fact, with all the Greenie Weenie knickers-twisting moaning about more frequent and much stronger storms, why would they even propose putting windmills in such inhospitable places where you cannot repair and maintain them? Their argument for much more frequent and violent storms tells you that this is lunacy.

Review of offshore wind turbine failures and fault prognostic methods

SECTION II.Failures of Offshore Wind Turbine
Electrical control, gearbox, yaw system, generator, hydraulic, grid and blades are rated (60% of the total failures) as the most common failure components of wind turbines (>1.5MW) in the study of Danish turbines [6] (Figure 2). Those challenges cause extra cost on emergency maintenance, component screening, physical designs and so forth.

A. Electrical Control Failures
Damages of generator windings, short-circuit and over voltage of electronics components, transformers and wiring damages are the common failures of electrical control. These failures are reported as the results of lightning, poor electrical installation, technical defects and resonances within resistor-capacitor (RC) circuits.

B. Yaw System Failures
Yaw control system controls the nacelle rotation to place the blades facing the desired angle. It was reported that the cracking of yaw drive shafts, fracture of gear teeth, pitting of the yaw bearing race and failure of the bearing mounting bolts are all categorized as Yaw System Failures [10]. Icing problem in extreme weather and high vibration level during overload are also claimed as the cause of the failures.

C. Gearbox Failures
Gearbox is usually found in the turbines nowadays. However, it was one of the most frequently damaged rotational components in turbine. The failures are usually wearing, backlash, and tooth breakage. They are claimed as the result of particle contaminations, frequent stoppage and starting and high loaded operation conditions.

Figure 4. Tooth breakage caused by frequent [wind turbine] stoppage and starting.

E. Hydraulic Failures
Hydraulic components are used in many high pressure connections located in pitch, yaw, braking system and gearbox lubrication system. The leakages of these components are called hydraulic failure. Since the offshore turbines are usually located in extreme environmental conditions, the failure may occur during high/low temperature, corrosion, vibration. The reasons behind are claimed as improper installation, poor system design, poor component quality and system abuse. The improper installation rated as 60% of the total failure causes.

F. Blade Failures
Blades are the main rotors of wind turbine and they transfer wind power into up-lifting force by fluid dynamic physical design. Usually, any blade damages, cracks, breakups and bends are said as blade failures. Causes of the blade failures include turbulent wind, out-of-control rotation, lightning and production defects. [4] reported that a broken blade had travelled as far as 1.3km from its tower. Many countries, hence, set up regulations to forbid their civilians to get close to wind farms such as US and Germany.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Exactly right. I’d wager that not all the leases will be executed, the government’s take in the end, will be far less than expected, fewer wind machines will be built than predicted, and their reliability and energy production will be terrible. I won’t be around to see it, but this whole offshore wind wet dream will be abandoned within 30 to 50 years.

[Carriage Hill]

“I must be missing something.”

You’re simply missing the payoffs, graft, corruption and crime involved in the green energy scam. Nothing ever goes back to us consumers, as fees, rates and taxes keep rising.

[WKUHilltopper]

Torpedo bait…

[MtnClimber]

Just wait to see how much they make auctioning unicorn hamster wheel generators.

[sasquatch]

How else are we going to pay for Solyndra 2.0?

[sasquatch]

We can put the scrap/failures at the high tide line and
take care of erosion from sea level rise. Twofer!

[deport]

Texas Wind Generation Capacity by Year (MW)
..
Texas Wind Generation by Year (MWh x 1000) ..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_Texas

[ProtectOurFreedom]

That generation chart is in the “so what” category. Wind power is not available when and where you need it. Electrical power is used as it is produced. The only reason you can have that wind generation is that you have other plants to make power when the wind isn’t blowing.

So you have to buy two or three full-size plants where one used to do the job: wind turbines + fossil fired turbines + batteries.

And, from a total systems perspective, it requires a lot more materials to build a wind system than a fossil-fueled or nuclear-fueled system.

It is a colossal scam.

[Glad2bnuts]

You are correct on all points.

How are they going to get the power generated to the end point user? Big extension cords? This is absolute madness.

[MMusson]

And Wind Power in Texas is obliterating the Bat population.

[mewzilla]

Hope someone checks out the ownership for these companies.

What I’ve found so far is...interesting.

[mewzilla]

Case in point from January...

Invenergy Announces Approximately $3 Billion Investment from Blackstone Infrastructure Partners to Accelerate Renewable Development Activities

Blackstone...

This Blackstone...?

Fed Dead Redemption! Blackstone’s $69 Billion Real Estate Fund Hits Redemption Limit (Equity REITs DOWN -23.6% In 2022, Mortgage REITs DOWN -28.6%)

See where I'm going with this...

[mewzilla]

It’s not madness.

It’s money laundering.