Monthly Archives: February 2017

Doug Fraser @dougfrasercct

CHATHAM This June, the state will solicit bids seeking offshore wind farms to produce 400 megawatts of electricity. Its the first of four phases of what state officials hope will be 1,600 megawatts of offshore power; 15 percent of what the state uses annually, enough power to replace what will eventually be lost when Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station shuts down.

Submitting a bid in June will be the first tangible step for a group of Marthas Vineyard residents who started the Vineyard Power energy cooperative six years ago in response to a lot of the things they didnt like about the nowdefunct Cape Wind project. It has 1,400 members and claims the cooperative represents 5,000 people on the island.

Richard Andre, president of Vineyard Power, said their prospects improved dramatically when Gov. Charlie Baker signed legislation in August that required that powerutilities solicit and contract for 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind power as part of their energy portfolio by 2027.

Then, we knew we would have a buyer for our power, Andre said.

Vineyard Power representatives came to the headquarters of the Cape CodCommercial Fishermens Alliance in Chatham on a stormy Wednesday to get feedback from fishermen.

Perhaps it was fitting that there werent many fishermen in the audience, because Andre said that unlike Cape Wind, which was sued by Vineyard fishermen and hotly contestedby many Cape fishermen, they havent received any negative feedback.

We identified our site in 2009 as an area with the least amount of fishery conflicts, Andre said.

The process was helped considerably by the federal government in 2009 when theBureau of Energy Management mapped out areas of the ocean with good wind and relatively few conflicting uses or environmental concerns. John Pappalardo, CEO of the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermens Alliance, was part of the team that helped to eliminate large areas that were valuable for fishing, shellfishing or for fish habitat.

This zone was much larger. We shaved a huge piece out of it primarily because of scallops, Pappalardo said.

At over 500 feet tall, the 40 to 70 turbines that would be constructed in the first phase would be spaced more than a half mile apart. Andre told the audience there would be no reduced speed or areas closed to navigation or fishing. It has not been determined yet whether there could be anything like a kelp or mussel farming operation using components of the turbine. There would be money available to reimburse fishermen displaced during construction work.

By locating them 12 miles offshore, Andre said the turbines would only be visible on extremely clear days and, even then, would be far off in the distance.

We wanted a different model than Cape Wind. We wanted there to be local benefit, local employment, and local input into the project, Andre told the audience. Weve met with over 20 fishing groups since March of 2016.

Vineyard Power partnered with Vineyard Wind, which holds the lease on the 260 square miles of ocean 12 miles south of the island. Vineyard Wind is a subsidiary of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, a Danish company that invests pension funds from NorthernEurope. It has $3.5 billion in assets, Andre said, and is primarily focused on renewable energy projects. CIP has managed and invested in over 1,000 megawatts of offshore wind turbines currently being built in Europe, according to its website.

Three companies, Deepwater Wind, another Danish company, Dong Energy, and Vineyard Power hold the three federal leases in federal waters south of the Vineyard that were designated as appropriate for offshore wind through an ocean zoning process. In September, the three companies signed letters of intent to use the state-run $113 million New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal, which had been built in anticipation of the ill-fated Cape Wind offshore wind farm being constructed.

This December, Eversourceacquired 50 percent ownership of the offshore wind farm proposed by Dong Energy.

All three offshore wind companies could be submitting bids this summer, Andre said. Price is the primary consideration, and he anticipates the winning bid will be in the mid-teens per kilowatt hour as compared with Cape Winds prices, which were over 20 cents. Each subsequent bid phase is required to start at a lower price than the previous ones as improved technology and economies of scale reduce costs. Europe, where they have been producing such power for decades, has seen offshore wind drop to 10 cents, Andre said.

The area south of the Vineyard has been rated the best or second best on the East Coast for the strength and consistency of its wind, Andre toldthe audience.

Vineyard Wind ships were out on Nantucket Sound this summer and fall doing seismic and sonar testing on the sea bed to determine what type of foundation would be required for the turbines.

Environmental studies of impacts on birds and marine life, and permitting, will continue for another two years. Construction could start as early as 2020 and take two years. It will take about 2,000 construction workers for the first phase, and Andre said the plan is to employ a lot of local workers.

The company with the winning bid would also have to get state permits to run cables, which will be buried 6 feet deep in the sea bed, to the mainland.

Follow Doug Fraser on Twitter:@dougfrasercct

See the article here:

Vineyard Power vying for offshore wind farm - Cape Cod Times (subscription)

The Internal Revenue Service says that hiding money or assets in unreported offshore accounts remains on its 2017 list of tax scams known as the Dirty Dozen.

Since the first Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) opened in 2009, there have been more than 55,800 disclosures and the IRS has collected more than $9.9 billion from this initiative alone.

In addition, another 48,000 taxpayers have made use of separate streamlined procedures to correct prior non-willful omissions and meet their federal tax obligations, paying approximately $450 million in taxes, interest and penalties. The IRS conducted thousands of offshore-related civil audits that resulted in the payment of tens of millions of dollars in unpaid taxes. The IRS has also pursued criminal charges leading to billions of dollars in criminal fines and restitutions.

"Offshore compliance remains a top IRS priority. We've collected $10 billion in back taxes in recent years with 100,000 taxpayers making use of our voluntary disclosure programs," said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. "The IRS receives more foreign account information each year, making it harder to hide income offshore. I urge taxpayers with international tax issues to come forward and get right with the system."

Compiled annually, the Dirty Dozen lists a variety of common scams that taxpayers may encounter anytime, but many of these schemes peak during filing season as people prepare their tax returns or hire people to help with their taxes.

Illegal scams can lead to significant penalties as well as interest and possible criminal prosecution. The IRS Criminal Investigation Division works closely with the Department of Justice to shut down scams and prosecute the criminals behind them.

Hiding Income Offshore

Over the years, numerous individuals have been identified as evading U.S. taxes by attempting to hide income in offshore banks, brokerage accounts or nominee entities. Then access the funds using debit cards, credit cards or wire transfers. Others have employed foreign trusts, employee-leasing schemes, private annuities or insurance plans for the same purpose.

The IRS uses information gained from its investigations to pursue taxpayers with undeclared accounts, as well as bankers and others suspected of helping clients hide their assets overseas.

While there are legitimate reasons for maintaining financial accounts abroad, there are reporting requirements that need to be fulfilled. U.S. taxpayers who maintain such accounts and who do not comply with reporting requirements are breaking the law and risk significant fines, as well as the possibility of criminal prosecution.

Since 2009, tens of thousands of individuals have come forward to voluntarily disclose their foreign financial accounts, taking advantage of special opportunities to comply with the U.S. tax system and resolve their tax obligations. And, with new foreign account reporting requirements being phased in over the next few years, hiding income offshore is increasingly more difficult.

At the beginning of 2012, the IRS reopened the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program following continued strong interest from taxpayers and tax practitioners after the closure of the 2011 and 2009 programs. This program will be open for an indefinite period until otherwise announced.

Third-Party Reporting

Under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and the network of intergovernmental agreements between the U.S. and partner jurisdictions, automatic third-party account reporting has entered its second year. The IRS continues to receive more information regarding potential non-compliance by U.S. persons because of the Department of Justices Swiss Bank Program. This information makes it less likely that offshore financial accounts will go unnoticed by the IRS.

Potential civil penalties increase substantially if U.S. taxpayers associated with participating banks wait to apply to OVDP to resolve their tax obligations.

Read more from the original source:

IRS Cracks Down on Offshore Tax Cheats - CPAPracticeAdvisor.com

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A new modelling approach developed and validated by the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) presents a major step forward in understanding how offshore blowout preventers (BOPs) are likely to function if employed during a blowout. Results from the study funded by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) were presented today at the Ocean Energy Safety Institutes Public Technology Assessment Program Forum.

The emergency closure of a wellbore with a BOP is a highly complicated process in which high strength steel pipe must be cut and pinched closed under extreme pressure and flow conditions, said SwRIs Steven Green. SwRI is under contract with BSEE to develop and validate a methodology for conducting an analysis of a BOP closure event using existing commercially available software for advanced structural and fluid dynamics simulations. We have also developed a database tool that, when completed, will hold simulation results and allows BSEE and industry to interactively assess the basic design requirements of a BOP under its expected operating conditions, Green said.

Blowout preventers use multiple methods to prevent hydrocarbons from ascending through drill pipes and reaching surface operations. How well they would perform during a blowout, as opposed to activation to prevent a blowout, has been a concern for both the industry and regulators. The research performed by SwRI is part of BSEEs larger effort to advance the design of BOPs so that they function effectively under emergency conditions.

See the article here:

Model advances analysis of offshore BOP closure during extreme conditions - WorldOil (subscription)

These figures signify a 42% share of Britains construction contract value in the utilities and power sector, and 21% of the entire UK infrastructure sector.

This trend in increased offshore wind developments is expected to continue, with Barbour ABI reporting that 23.3bn worth of construction contract value is currently in the pipeline.

Their lead economist, Michael Dall, said: Back in 2013 offshore wind farms accounted for only 7.5% of the annual construction value for the utilities and power sector, which increased in 2016 on the back of significant investment in this type of project.

With reports showing that the cost of producing electricity in this way have fallen significantly, the increase in construction value makes sense.

We have also seen a large uptake in the planning pipeline for future offshore wind farms over the coming years, suggesting this burgeoning sector will continue to expand in 2017 and beyond.

The increase in value of wind farm developments last year was significantly impacted by the Beatrice, Galloper, and East Anglia projects, which are together worth 3bn, and once constructed, will produce over 1,600MW of renewable energy per hour.

The UKs annual offshore wind farm construction contract value since 2013 is shown below:

UK energy minister Jesse Norman said: The UKs leadership in offshore wind clearly demonstrates that it is an attractive destination for renewable energy investment.

Thanks to the efforts of developers, the UKs vigorous supply chain and support from government, renewables costs are continuing to fall.

"Offshore wind will continue to help the UK to meet its climate change commitments, as well as delivering jobs and growth across the country.

See the original post:

UK offshore wind farm construction hit record high in 2016 - The Actuary