Snake Posted October 14, 2023 Share Posted October 14, 2023 East Coast wind projects are in jeopardy after a decision by New York regulators Thursday to deny requests from renewable energy developers to charge customers billions of dollars more. Offshore wind developers say they have have been struggling against record inflation, supply chain issues, and interest rate hikes. Facing these pressures, Orsted, BP, and Equinor and other renewable developers requested that contracts for four offshore projects and 86 land-based projects be renegotiated, according to Reuters. The offshore developers asked the New York Public Service Commission to alter its long term contracts and raise purchase prices to a level that would have let them collect an additional $38 billion from ratepayers. The commission said that granting the requests would have added as much as 6.7% to residential customers' monthly energy bill in a state that already pays some of the highest rates in the country. Orstead CEO David Hardy told Reuters that the viability of a 924-megawatt offshore project is “challenged” by the state decision to deny the request. President Joe Biden has pushed offshore wind development as a key component of his climate agenda. The Inflation Reduction Act allows offshore wind developers, unlike onshore projects, to claim a minimum 30% investment tax credit, another 10% credit if the project uses equipment that’s made in the U.S., and another 10% if they build their projects in “energy communities.” Biden’s offshore push is now threatened by rising costs, which have already led to a few projects being scrapped. Earlier this month, Avangrid, a subsidiary of the Spanish utility Iberdrola, announced it was abandoning an 804-megawatt project off the coast of Connecticut. According to a company statement, the “unprecedented economic headwinds facing the industry including record inflation, supply chain disruptions, and sharp interest rate hikes” have “rendered the Park City Wind project unfinanceable under its existing contracts.” The company had tried, according to the statement, to work with state and federal officials to find solutions to the project’s financial challenges, but Avangrid decided it was better to terminate its power purchase agreements. The company, according to The Connecticut Examiner, had to pay a $16 million penalty to cancel the contract. Avangrid also agreed to pay $60 million to Massachusetts, the Examiner reported, to cancel contracts for a 1,200-megawatt wind project, and SouthCoast Wind agreed to pay $60 million to Massachusetts to cancel contracts for a 2,400 megawatt project off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayward Posted October 14, 2023 Share Posted October 14, 2023 Nothing but a political money laundering sham from the get-go. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XCR1250 Posted October 14, 2023 Share Posted October 14, 2023 All the "Green" Crap including EV Junk is a major joke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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