Ammonia Beckons

The popularity of ammonia as a fuel for shipping is likely to benefit from a growing number of green ammonia production projects. Shipowner confidence in the availability of ammonia was displayed this week by Belgian oil tanker group CMB.TECH and charterers Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and MOL Chemical Tankers as they signed deals for nine ammonia-powered bulk carriers and chemical tankers.Green hydrogen and ammonia projects around the world have advanced over the last few weeks. Last week…
PEAK Wind Enters into OMA to Oversee Wind Farm Operations

Fengmiao I, a 495 MW offshore wind farm, has reached a financial close. The project is owned by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) through its fund Copenhagen Infrastructure V (CI V).PEAK Wind has entered into an Operations Management Agreement (OMA) to oversee the operations of Fengmiao I, ensuring its efficient and reliable performance as the project progresses. The OMA will provide operational management continuing to build up a strong Taiwan Operations setup–all with…
Australian Green Hydrogen Project Receives Government Funding

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced the first recipient from its Hydrogen Headstart Program, with $814 million in funding allocated under round 1 to Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners’ (CIP) 1,500 MW Murchison Green Hydrogen Project in Western Australia.The Murchison Green Hydrogen project is being developed by CIP. Murchison involves large-scale production of renewable hydrogen and ammonia in Western Australia. The project will be located approximately 15 km north of the coastal town of Kalbarri and will include up to 1.5 GW of electrolysis and 3…
European firms exposed as Trump targets US offshore wind

U.S. President Donald Trump in his first day of office on Monday suspended new federal offshore wind leasing pending an environmental and economic review, saying wind mills are ugly, expensive and harm wildlife.Former President Joe Biden supported the offshore wind industry, setting a target for 30 gigawatts (GW) of projects by 2030, up from 42 megawatts at the end of 2023, prompting many European project developers to acquire leases and plan wind farms in the United States.Trump's executive order is not expected to stop existing U.S.
DEME, Van Oord Secure Offshore Wind Work in Taiwan

DEME and Van Oord have secured separate contracts from Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) for installation works at the 500 MW Fengmiao 1 offshore wind farm in Taiwan.DEME, through its Taiwanese joint venture CDWE, has been awarded a substantial contract for the transport and installation of foundations and the offshore substation for the Fengmiao 1 offshore wind farm in Taiwan.For DEME, substantial contract means it is valued between $155 million and $310 million.CDWE is responsible for the transport and installation of 33 jacket foundations…
Some Vineyard Wind Blades to be Removed After Quality Checks

GE Vernova will remove some turbine blades installed at the Vineyard Wind offshore wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts following quality checks prompted by the failure of a blade in July, the company said on Wednesday.Progress on the still-unfinished project is being closely watched since it was barred from producing power or completing construction after a turbine blade broke and sent debris into the water that washed up on nearby beaches during the peak summer tourist season.The blade saga has been a blow to the nation's budding offshore wind industry…
New England States Move Forward with Three Giant Offshore Wind Farms

Massachusetts and Rhode Island are moving ahead with three offshore wind projects totaling 2.9 gigawatts (GW), or enough electricity to power about 1.6 million homes, government officials announced on Friday.The project selections, following a joint solicitation in March for wind farms to be built off of New England's shores, move Massachusetts and Rhode Island closer to state renewable energy goals aimed at combating the effects of climate change."We are taking an important step towards energy independence…
GE Vernova Says Offshore Wind Turbine Blade Failures Are Unrelated

GE Vernova on Friday said recent turbine blade failures at two offshore wind farms in the United States and the United Kingdom are unrelated.The statement comes as the company has been grappling with fallout from three separate blade accidents in four months.The most recent occurred on Aug. 22 at the Dogger Bank wind farm off the coast of Yorkshire in the North Sea, a little over a month after a blade fell apart at the Vineyard Wind project off the coast of Massachusetts and sent…
Vineyard Wind Cleared to Resume Limited Offshore Turbine Installs

Vineyard Wind and GE Vernova on Tuesday said U.S. safety officials have allowed them to resume limited construction on an offshore wind farm off the Massachusetts coast where a turbine blade shattered last month.Vineyard Wind, owned by Avangrid AGR.N and Denmark's Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, was ordered to stop power production and construction after a blade broke apart on July 13 and sent pieces of fiberglass into the water that washed up on nearby beaches.In a joint statement…
Crawlers to Inspect Blades After Vineyard Wind Failure

Vineyard Wind and GE Vernova on Friday released a plan outlining the steps to be followed after a turbine blade failure last month at the Vineyard Wind offshore project off the coast of Massachusetts, which left potentially dangerous debris on beaches on the island of Nantucket.Vineyard Wind, the first major U.S. offshore wind farm, was shut down by federal authorities after the turbine blade failure.The plan outlines the steps to be followed to recover the remainder of the blade on the turbine. It has been developed in consultation the U.S.
Offshore Wind: Inside the Financial Web

Early 2024 saw a group of financial deals that have implications, in a broad sense, for how offshore wind projects may be financed. While offshore wind projects might be thought of as being in the ‘utility finance’ basket, they are ultimately high-risk deals that might better suit the portfolios of ‘infrastructure investment’ which, in recent years, has taken a shift towards tolerating more uncertainty when it comes to cash flows.A 2022 article from consultants McKinsey, titled “Infrastructure investing will never be the same”…
Vineyard Wind Incident Not First Time a GE Vernova Turbine Came Apart

An incident at the Vineyard Wind offshore wind energy project this week that scattered shards of fiberglass across Massachusetts beaches was the latest in a series of failures involving wind turbines built by GE Vernova.At least one other GE Vernova offshore wind turbine came apart this year, at the massive Dogger Bank A project off the UK coast, and several onshore wind turbines in Germany and Sweden have also broken in recent years, according to a Reuters examination of recent…
Vineyard Wind Warns of More Debris from Wind Turbine

Vineyard Wind on Thursday warned that more debris from a broken offshore wind turbine could wash ashore along the Massachusetts coast after a large remaining portion of the damaged blade fell into the ocean.Vessel crews are working to remove the debris, but weather conditions are difficult, the company said.Vineyard Wind, a joint venture between Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, said late on Wednesday that the remaining blade was compromised and could detach from the turbine…
US Orders Stop to Vineyard Wind Construction

A federal agency has ordered a wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts to stop power production and construction until an investigation determines whether a blade failure affects other turbines, it said on Wednesday.Vineyard Wind's offshore wind project was shut down by federal authorities after a turbine blade failure on Saturday that caused pieces of fiberglass to fall into the water.Wednesday's suspension order from the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement prevents Vineyard Wind…
US Offshore Wind Farm Shut Down After Turbine Debris Fouls Beaches

The Vineyard Wind offshore wind project off the coast of Massachusetts is shut down until further notice while authorities investigate a turbine blade failure that caused debris to wash up on beaches, a federal agency said on Tuesday.The U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) said it was working closely with Vineyard Wind to determine the cause of the incident, which left potentially dangerous debris on beaches on the island of Nantucket."There were no injuries reported…
Jan de Nul Gets Export Cables Installation Job for Taiwanese Offshore Wind Farm

Belgium-based offshore installation contractor Jan De Nul has signed preferred supplier agreement with Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) for the installation of subsea high-voltage export cable for Fengmiao I offshore wind farm in Taiwan.The subsea cables, about 90 km long, will bring the wind energy generated at the 500 MW Fengmiao I wind farm ashore to Taichung City.Fengmiao I will provide power for about half a million households, and is part of the larger Fengmiao wind project.The wind farm is located approximately 35 km off the coast of Taichung and has a total capacity of 1…
Portugal's New Government Committed to Developing Offshore Wind

Portugal's new government is committed to developing offshore wind energy and also sees "repowering" onshore wind farms and promoting solar projects, including small-scale ones, as a priority, the environment minister said on Monday.Maria da Graca Carvalho said the government would announce some details of its offshore wind energy policy in July as investors await guidelines on a planned key licensing action announced last year under the previous administration.The previous administration…
New England Offshore Wind Auction Draws Multiple Bidders

Several offshore wind developers bid in a combined Connecticut-Massachusetts-Rhode Island offshore wind solicitation on Wednesday, including units of European energy firms Iberdrola and Orsted.The U.S. offshore wind industry is booming so far this year, with several projects in various stages of development and construction, after a disastrous 2023 of developers cancelling contracts and taking roughly $9.1 billion in write-offs and impairments on U.S. projects.So far, Avangrid…
Five Turbines Power Up at Vineyard Wind

Renewable energy firm Avangrid and fund manager Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners said on Thursday their joint venture, Vineyard Wind 1, has begun operations at five of its wind turbines, supplying 68 megawatts (MW) to the New England grid.Currently, the project has successfully installed nine turbines and is in the process of installing the 10th, with preparations underway to transport the 11th turbine to the offshore project site.Offshore wind projects in the U.S.
Californian Port Gets $427M Boost for New Offshore Wind Infrastructure

The U.S. government has awarded a major grant to the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation, and Conservation District for the construction of a new marine terminal to be primarily used for floating offshore wind-related activities.The grant for the Humboldt Bay Offshore Wind MVP (Minimum Viable Port) project comes through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight & Highway Projects (INFRA) grant program, which received a substantial funding increase…
US Plugs in First Large Offshore Wind Farm as Developers Play Catch-up

The U.S. offshore wind industry reached an important milestone on January 2 when Vineyard Wind 1, the country’s first large scale project, supplied first power to the Massachusetts grid.“As the nation’s first utility-scale offshore wind farm this is a fairly momentous event,” Ken Kimmell, Chief Development Officer for Avangrid, the Iberdrola subsidiary co-developing the project with Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), told Reuters Events.The turbine will be joined by 61 additional turbines to provide 806 MW of power to the grid by the end of the year…
Equinor, BP Cancel Contract to Sell Offshore Wind Power to New York

European energy firms Equinor and BP terminated their agreement to sell power to New York state from their proposed Empire Wind 2 offshore wind farm, citing rising inflation, higher borrowing costs, and supply chain issues."This agreement reflects changed economic circumstances on an industry-wide scale and repositions an already mature project to continue development in anticipation of new offtake opportunities," Equinor said in a statement on Wednesday, in an apparent reference…
Vineyard Wind Supplies First Power to Grid

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Avangrid said on Wednesday their joint venture Vineyard Wind began generating power for the first time, supplying five megawatts (MW) to the New England grid.The project is expected to have five turbines operating at full capacity in early 2024, the companies said.The announcement comes after offshore wind projects in the United States faced financial troubles in recent months on account of soaring inflation, interest rate hikes and increased project costs due to supply chain issues.The 806-MW Vineyard Wind 1 project, offshore construction of which began