Daily Archives: May 11, 2017

Maryland waters could be home to some of the nation's first and by far its largest offshore wind farms under a decision issued Thursday by the state Public Service Commission to approve two projects.

Officials had only been expected to choose one of the vying proposals, but surprised wind developers by giving both the green light, saying they would "position Maryland as a national leader in offshore wind energy."

"I believe this decision creates tremendous opportunities for Maryland," commissioner Michael T. Richard said in a statement. "It enables us to meet our clean, renewable energy goals using energy generated within the state while conditioning our approval on holding project developers to their promises of creating jobs and spurring economic growth."

The decision could dot the Ocean City horizon with wind turbines as soon as 2020 and add $1 to monthly residential electricity bills.

It is also expected to prevent emissions of hundreds of thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide and create some 5,000 jobs and $74 million in state tax revenue.

The two companies have until May 25 to accept a set of conditions, requiring certain levels of job creation and investment, that the commission laid out in its decision.

U.S. Wind, a subsidiary of Italian energy and construction company Toto Holdings SpA, plans to build 62 turbines about 14 miles off the coast of Ocean City, a $1.4 billion project. It also plans to build $100 million worth of industrial and manufacturing facilities associated with the project in the Sparrows Point area of Baltimore County.

"The decision is in and now we're ready to get to work," Paul Rich, director of project development for U.S. Wind, said in a statement. "Maryland is now the undisputed national leader for offshore wind."

Skipjack Offshore Wind LLC, a subsidiary of Rhode Island-based Deepwater Wind Holdings LLC, is planning a $720 million project including 15 turbines at least 20 miles off the coast.

Skipjack is behind the United States' only offshore wind project constructed to date, the five-turbine Block Island Wind Farm off the coast of Rhode Island. It is also planning projects off the coasts of Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey.

The project developers are required to build the turbines as far from shore as possible up to 17 miles for the U.S. Wind farm and 24 miles for the Skipjack turbines.

U.S. Wind officials have said that on a clear day, their turbines would appear to a person on the beach as about the size of a thumbnail at arms length.

This story will be updated.

sdance@baltsun.com

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After approval, Maryland to be home to nation's second and third offshore wind farms - Baltimore Sun

The Trump administration is considering letting six companies test for oil and natural gas off the Atlantic coast.

The Wednesday decision by the Interior Department is an early step toward potential drilling in the Atlantic Ocean, reversing an Obama administration policy to reject such applications.

Seismic surveying helps a variety of federal and state partners better understand our nations offshore areas, including locating offshore hazards, siting of wind turbines, as well as offshore energy development, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said in a statement.

The Wednesday announcement does not necessarily mean that any permits will be issued, since they still need to go through an approval process.

The six companies had previously sought seismic testing approvals, but the Obama administration rejected them in January, leading the companies to appeal to an Interior board.

Interior is now asking that board of administrative judges to allow the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management another chance to consider the requests.

Zinke is presenting the policy change as fulfilling President Trumps executive order signed last month to expand offshore oil and natural gas drilling.

Seismic testing would allow the oil industry to research for the first time in three decades what resources could be under the ocean floor.

Any permits to drill in the Atlantic would be years away, following numerous federal approvals.

Environmental advocates have long opposed seismic testing in the Atlantic, both because of the harm they say it causes to wildlife in the ocean and the potential that it would lead to drilling.

Oceana says seismic testing creates loud noises that can be heard for thousands of miles, which can injure marine mammals such as whales and dolphins.

Read more from the original source:

Trump to consider new testing for offshore Atlantic oil and gas - The Hill

by

May 10, 2017, 10:12 AM EDT

Calls from the industry and utilities including Vattenfall AB for Germany to auction more offshore wind blocs are unlikely to fall on sympathetic ears until voters elect a new parliament.

Germanys maiden offshore auction, which wrapped up last month with the winners willing to forgo subsidies for the first time, is spurring calls to raise tender caps as developers seek yields through economies of scale. While the calls have garnered backing in the Environment Ministry, the prospects of amending auction limits are zero, lawmaker Bernd Westphal said.

You can forget lifting the caps before the election in September, the Social Democrats spokesman for energy said in an interview at a wind conference in the port of Bremerhaven. With power grid expansion delays, this just wont make sense.

Utilities Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg AG and Dong Energy A/S in April upended expectations that offshore wind power requires aid. Industry lobbies including the Offshore Wind Foundation are asking why Germany needs offshore auctions at all if utilities are ready to build for free, seeking investment returns in competitive prices for wind power in the open market.

Speaking at the same event, Felix Wuertenberger, head of Vattenfalls offshore development in Germany and the Netherlands, on Wednesday urged the government to raise auction limits beyond the planned 3 gigawatts in 2017 and 2018 to bring down technology costs.

Developers of North Sea wind projects need to build at least 4 gigawatts of capacity a year from 2020 -- equal to one turbine a day -- to keep the industry buoyant, said Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energys new Chief Executive Officer Markus Tacke at the event.

Some 7 gigawatts a year would be more appropriate to generate sufficient volume to lower costs and sustain innovation, said Tacke. Just 1 percent of the seas wind power potential is currently under development, according to the company.

The problem in Germany, according to the Social Democrats Westphal, is that the country is already struggling to accommodate current rates of green power expansion on its grid. The plan to build three high-voltage power lines to transmit wind and solar power from the north to the south of the country wont be realized before 2025.

At the same time, Chancellor Angela Merkels ruling coalition is divided over steering growth of wind parks in the North Sea, according to the lawmaker.

The Social Democrats, the junior partner in Germanys ruling coalition, sought higher caps for offshore auctions while Chancellor Angela Merkels Christian Democrats sought lower limits on cost grounds and grid concerns, Westphal said.

Raising the limits on auction volume cant be ruled out after Septembers election, he said.

The rest is here:

Merkel Lawmakers Reject Calls to Expand Offshore Wind Auctions ... - Bloomberg

HAMISH RUTHERFORD

Last updated14:14, May 11 2017

Cameron Burnell/Fairfax NZ

Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler says some banks are close to hitting the limit of what they can borrow offshore, meaning competition for local savers will continue.

A war for savers is expected to intensify in the coming months, pushing deposit rates above 4 per cent and driving up the cost of mortgages, experts say.

Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler said some of New Zealand's major commercial banks were "approaching the limits" of what they could borrow offshore.

Already this had pushed up the interest rates offered to savers, and the price at which banks were offering mortgages, and Wheeler hinted the battle would intensify.

"I would expect that competition for deposits to continue quite significantly in the coming months," Wheeler said on Thursday.

READ MORE:Dovish Reserve Bank says next OCR move could be a cut

While the official cash rate (OCR), the benchmark interest rate, remains at an all time low of 1.75 per cent, New Zealand's major banks have been raising the rates offered to everyday customers.

The average interest rate offered to savers on asix-month deposit rate is now3.32 per cent, up from 3.14 per cent 12 months ago.

Meanwhile, the rate on the average two-year, fixed-rate mortgage has risen from 5.64 per cent to 5.8 per cent over the same period.

Cameron Bagrie, chief economist at ANZ, said the banks were already pulling back on credit in a bid to increase local deposits.

If the banks were to continue to tap offshore markets for funding at the same rate as recent years, New Zealand's current account deficitwould "blow out", raising the risk that the banks would face credit rating downgrades.

With asset prices booming, Bagrie said the banks were starting to show some restraint.

"It's midnight at the bar, we've had a few drinks. Do we stay out to 4am and wake up with an almighty hangover, or do we go home?," Bagrie said.

"The banking sector at the moment are basically rationing the drinks at the bar."

Bagrie said the battle for deposits was alive and would continue. How far rates on both deposits and mortgages rose depended on how quickly deposits rose.

Currently banks were offering around 3.5 per cent interest for 1-2 year deposits, Bagrie said.

"It looks to be a matter of time until we see those deposit rates rising through 4 per cent," Bagrie said.

As deposit rates rose, mortgage rates would also climb "at the same time," Bagrie said.

"There's a big gap between where credit growth sits at and where deposit growth is."

RATES ON HOLD FOR 'PROLONGED PERIOD'

The New Zealand dollar dropped sharply on Thursday after theReserve Bank said the benchmark official cash rate (OCR) would stay low for longer than expected.

Wheeler was expected to leave the OCR at 1.75 per cent, but hint that increases would come sooner than he predicted back in February.

But Wheeler made little change to his future projection for the OCR, which influences mortgage and savings rates.

"Monetary policy will remain accommodative for a considerable period. Numerous uncertainties remain and policy may need to adjust accordingly."

ASB chief economist NickTuffleysaid Wheeler's stance was little changed from February.

"We had expected some bringing forward of the implied tightening to the first half of 2019."

Financial markets reacted by pushing down the New Zealand dollar.

The kiwi was buyingabout US69.4c just before the Reserve Bank statement, dropping to around US68.5c minutes later.

It now sits just above the 11-month low it fell to last week, as traders took a major "short" position.

Economists had expected that higher than expected inflation and strong job creation revealed in recent weeks would lead Wheeler to signal interest rate increases were coming.

Butthe governor said the overall impact of recent developments was "neutral". Althoughglobal economic growth had picked up, major uncertainties, including political, remained, Wheeler said.

Wheeler said a fall in New Zealand dollar - which is down about 5 per cent since February "is encouraging and, if sustained, will help to rebalance the growth outlook towards the tradables sector".

-Stuff

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War for local savers building as banks 'approaching the limits' of offshore funding - Stuff.co.nz