Offshore wind takes a hit

Hi there. From the whole team here at Energy Central, we’re hoping for a smooth and safe recovery for all of our community members affected by Hurricane Helene. Keep reading for the utilities update after the storm. And if you want to support recovery efforts, here are some local resources in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, and Georgia. Stay safe, everybody.

— Reagin von Lehe, Energy Central Newsletter Writer

Offshore Gets the Wind Knocked Out of It

Offshore wind is taking another hit. GE Vernova, the largest wind turbine manufacturer in the US, plans to cut up to 900 jobs globally in an effort to curb costs and restructure its business.

The details:

• GE Vernova is expecting $300 million in losses for its wind turbine unit in the third quarter thanks to delays at wind farms off the coast of Massachusetts and in the North Sea. Both of those projects went through “blade events” this summer.

• Inflation, global supply chain issues, and an industry-wide slowdown in wind are the key motivators behind GE Vernova’s downsizing.

Zoom out: The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) postponed its Oregon offshore wind auction last week due to “insufficient interest,” further suggesting that investment in the sector is hitting a plateau.

What are Energy Central experts saying? Offshore wind in the Northeast has been struggling, with developers threatening to pull out of contracts in New York, plus New Jersey-based projects hitting snags thanks to a shortage of wind turbine manufacturers.

• And the effects are global. Europe-based energy companies Ørsted, Equinor, and BP have taken a combined $5 billion in write-downs for US offshore wind developments.

• Given offshore slowdowns, those companies’ existing contracts wouldn’t cover the cost of building and financing new projects.

But…the US offshore wind market is still under-developed compared to other countries, as one Energy Central member noted, and these setbacks don’t necessarily mean it’s lights out for US offshore wind.

Southeast Utilities Restore Power After Helene

Utilities in the Southeast are still responding to mass power outages after Hurricane Helene barreled through power lines—five days after the storm made landfall, some 2 million homes and businesses remain without power.

Here’s how utilities are responding →

Duke Energy, which deployed line workers, tree trimmers, and other storm support before Helene left the region, has restored power to about 1.1 million customers in the Carolinas. But about 904,000 customers are still experiencing blackouts.

• Transmission infrastructure and distributed facilities (like substations, poles, and power lines) have been either severely damaged or completely destroyed.

• Duke’s restoration teams are using helicopters, drones, and track vehicles for hard-to-reach areas. Grid integrity remained stable throughout the storm, Duke said.

Georgia Power restored service for about 840,000 customers as of midday yesterday and is still working on repairs for 7,000 power poles, 700 miles of wires, and 1,200 transformers. 370,000 customers remain without power after Helene, which Georgia Power said was the most destructive hurricane in the utility’s history.

Florida Power & Light said the power is back on for almost all customers after restoring electricity to 33,000 from Sunday to yesterday. The utility recommended homeowners and business contact electricians to repair damage before FPL.

Looking ahead: “In some communities, storm damage was so catastrophic that energy infrastructure needs to be completely rebuilt before power can be restored,” Edison Electric Institute said in a statement.

Breaking Down the Bill: RTOs Fast Tracking Power Projects?

US grid operators could expedite power plant reviews in interconnection queues under an American Electric Power-backed bill introduced to the House last week.

The proposed GRID Power Act would give FERC 60 days to review proposals from RTOs and ISOs for projects that strengthen grid reliability, improve supply, or address growing power demand—those fast-tracked projects could then jump to the front of interconnection queues.

Why does it matter? Interconnection queues have created severe backlogs for power plants across the country. About 2.6 TW of planned projects were seeking to connect to the grid at the end of last year, up 27% from 2022.

Worth noting? Grid operator PJM is considering its own proposal to fast track the review process of its interconnection requests.

This Week on Power Perspectives

Data center demand is skyrocketing by the minute—bolstering the utility-scale energy market…but overwhelming grids.

On this week’s episode of Power Perspectives, NOVEC President and CEO David Schleicher explains the ins and outs of powering “Data Center Alley.” We cover it all—from how to power these massive facilities to keeping traditional ratepayers happy with reliable and affordable power.

The Energy Central Wire

The best of the rest in energy headlines

• Britain is the first G7 country to end coal-fired power production with the close of its Ratcliffe-on-Soar plant.

• NYC receives a proposal to help affordable housing owners comply with building decarbonization requirements.

• Hitachi Energy will spend $155 million on a domestic transformer manufacturing expansion across three plants.

• Hawaiian Electric will pay customer incentives after its third party VPP battery operator, Swell Energy, went under.

• Some Massachusetts residents with heat pumps will soon get rate cuts in the hundreds of dollars over the winter.

Thank you for reading the second edition of the new Energy Central Newsletter. As always, hit respond and tell us what you think. See you Thursday for a special edition.