North Carolina bill seeks 10-year ban in new headache for US offshore wind

A Republican-sponsored bill introduced in the North Carolina state legislature would stop all offshore wind activities for 10 years to assess possible “adverse effects” on the state’s valuable coastal resources, in yet another unwelcome potential policy pitfall for the emerging US sector.

The bill would establish a moratorium on permit applications or approvals “for wind energy facilities to be located in the territorial coastal waters of the State due to the potential for adverse impacts to coastal resources,” the text of the bill states, beginning 1 July, 2023, to 1 July, 2033.

The law would have little direct impact on generation, as no developer is considering projects within three nautical miles (5.5km) of shore, the extent of state jurisdiction. If passed, however, the law could affect rights-of-way for running export cables back to shore for projects developed on federal leases.

“While we do not support offshore wind turbine locations in North Carolina's state waters, we do want to ensure that critical transmission infrastructure can be sited and leveraged to ensure a diverse, robust, and reliable grid for the state,” said Katharine Kollins, president of the Southeastern Wind Coalition, an industry advocacy group.

The bill is the latest effort by Republican legislators who dominate North Carolina's state legislature to undermine its governor's goal of expanding the wind sector.

Governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat, bolstered offshore wind development in North Carolina with an executive order signed in January last year calling for 2.8GW by 2030 and 8GW by 2040, in line with the state's Clean Power Plan legislation mandating 70% emissions reductions off of 2005 baselines towards carbon neutrality by 2050.

Another bill introduced by Republican state senators that passed the upper chamber of the bicameral legislature this month would replace "renewable energy" with "clean energy" to not impede the development of nuclear power.

North Carolina has four operating nuclear power plants that supply over 35% of the state's electricity, compared to 13% for renewables.

Governor Cooper considers offshore wind a key element of the driving both decarbonisation and economic growth and has said the sector could generate some $100bn in economic activity for the Tar Heel state.

“The key here is to not mess up what we have done with moving to a clean energy economy in North Carolina,” Cooper said at a state energy conference last month.

North Carolina-based utility Duke Energy and French oil major TotalEnergies each took a lease with bids of $155m and $160m, respectively — a far cry from the $4.4bn pulled in for New York Bight’s acreage in February.

Mounting opposition

New Jersey has seen multiple efforts by local activists and opposition Republican politicians to halt the offshore wind sector to assess impact on whales, while Maine has already banned development in state waters to protect the interests of its lobster industry.

The surge in opposition should signal the industry that it needs to go over and above National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) requirements in addressing stakeholder concerns, said Woodworth.

“There definitely needs to be a little bit more proactive engagement, on the part of not only just BOEM [Bureau of Ocean Energy Management], which is basically an advocate for these projects, but also on behalf of the developers,” said Woodworth.

NEPA is the US’ primary environmental legislation guiding development. BOEM, the regulator of energy development in federal waters, manages the NEPA process with multiple other government agencies for offshore wind.

“Projects are going to have to start going over and above” NEPA requirements; otherwise, “we might see a few more moratoriums,” she warned.