Wind

Duke and Total kickstart offshore wind in North Carolina with joint site assessment survey

Winners in the Carolina Long Bay have teamed up on initial actions, including stakeholder engagement as the state struggles towards its 8GW by 2040 goal

The winners of last year's federal offshore wind lease auction in the Carolina Long Bay, utility Duke Energy and French oil supermajor TotalEnergies, have kicked off sector activity in North Carolina by teaming up on initial site assessment survey.

The two companies “are collaborating on the geophysical survey and stakeholder outreach to help drive cost and planning efficiencies for Carolina Long Bay,” Jennifer Garber, principal communications manager at Duke, told Recharge.
Duke Energy is North Carolina's main regulated utility, and is among only a handful of US utilities, including Virginia's Dominion Energy and New England-based Eversource in offshore wind generation.

The companies have hired North Carolina-based NV5-Geodynamics to conduct a geophysical survey to collect data for the future deployment of met-ocean buoys within their leases.

The survey is targeted to take place over a 3–5-day period between 16-31 August, “subject to weather conditions”.

It is part of both firms’ efforts to develop site assessment plans (SAPs), an early step in project development.

Duke’s SAP “will detail the proposal for studying the project area, which will include plans for deployment of meteorological and wildlife monitoring equipment,” Garber said.

The SAP will be submitted to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the lead regulator of energy development in federal waters, which will consult with other federal and state agencies for review and approval.

The work will be performed aboard the R/V Shackleford – a 73-foot (22-metre) American-made and operated marine vessel, and “measures will be taken to protect marine mammals including dedicated observers and a vessel speed restriction of 10 knots”, Duke Energy said.

It kickstarts sector activity in a state long on ambition but which has struggled to build out the industry.

North Carolina ambitions

North Carolina governor Roy Cooper set a goal of 8GW of sector development by 2040, spearheading an industry that is expected to drive $44.9bn in capital investment, according to a study by research consultancy Wood Mackenzie.
Cooper’s action led to only tepid interest in the Carolina Long Bay auction last summer, though, with only five out of 15 qualified bidders showing up.

Duke Energy Renewables Wind paid $155m for lease 0546, while TotalEnergies paid $160m for lease 0545, around $2,900/acre, a marked decline off the New York Bight auction earlier last year that saw 488,000 acres sell for $4.37bn – nearly $9,000/acre.

Iberdrola-controlled Avangrid’s 2.6GW Kitty Hawk project along the state’s northern border with Virginia meanwhile has languished without an offtake contract for years despite progressing through the federal permitting regime.

BloombergNEF wind energy analyst Chelsea Jean-Michel highlighted the lack of “clear route-to-market for projects” as a key obstacle to development.

North Carolina's Clean Energy Plan requires state regulated utility, Duke Energy, to develop a plan to reduce power sector emissions by 70% reduction by 2030 but doesn't specify offshore wind.

The Clean Energy Plan “helped move the state's carbon reduction goals/processes into the hands of our regulators, the North Carolina Utilities Commission,” Karly Lohan, North Carolina specialist with industry advocate Southeastern Wind Coalition, told Recharge.

“We hope to see Commission create certainty by directing Duke to move forward with offshore wind development and related near-term development activities,” she added.

Military objections

The sector might be further curtailed by limited acreage in the Central Atlantic offshore wind planning area as the US military has flagged two major areas as conflicting with operational and national defence needs.

In July BOEM set three wind energy areas (WEAs) across 356,550 acres (1,443km2) with as much as 8GW of potential capacity and expects to hold auctions next summer.

The WEAs are a fraction of the six “call areas” BOEM established in 2022 covering 1.7 million acres from North Carolina to New Jersey. The setting of a call area is an early step in BOEM's process to gauge industry interest in an area.

Four of the six call areas may conflict with military operations and training, however, including area ‘D’ situated some 30 miles (48 km) offshore near the Kitty Hawk project site off North Carolina and area ‘F’ in deeper waters farther out to sea.

Governor Cooper called the decision to exclude these areas “extremely disappointing”.

“The Biden-Harris Administration and North Carolina have outlined strong goals to increase offshore wind energy generation and this decision jeopardises both plans,” he said in a statement earlier this month.

“North Carolina remains committed to becoming the nation’s leader in offshore wind energy and stands ready to work with BOEM to identify alternative solutions to solve this problem.”

BOEM spokesperson Lissa Eng confirmed that the regulator is working with the Department of Defence to resolve issues with a goal of potentially opening these call areas to future leasing.

(Copyright)
Published 21 August 2023, 22:14Updated 2 October 2023, 13:28
AmericasUSNorth CarolinaRoy CooperTotalEnergies