Avangrid, Iberdrola's subsidiary in the United States, has turned the page on the purchase of PNM Resources, which it definitively abandoned last Sunday. And it has done so with the launch of one of its most emblematic projects: the Vineyard Wind offshore wind farm, on the coast of New England, in the northeast of the United States. The group chaired by Ignacio Sánchez Galán owns 50% of the park together with Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP).
The Avangrid facility and another that came into operation off the coast of New York last month, developed by the Danish company Ørsted for the American electricity company Eversource, are the first two large offshore wind farms to begin supplying electricity to the United States. The sector has encountered, on the one hand, the incentives for renewable energy promoted by Joe Biden's Government, but on the other hand, it has suffered setbacks due to the increase in the cost of raw materials, increases in interest rates and problems in the supply chain that have led to the cancellation of some contracts.
“2023 was a historic year for offshore wind, marked by steel in the water and people at work. “Today we begin a new chapter and welcome 2024 by delivering the first clean offshore wind energy to the Massachusetts grid,” declared Pedro Azagra, CEO of Avangrid, through a statement. “We have reached a decisive moment for climate action in the United States and a dawn for the American offshore wind industry,” he stressed.
“This is a historic moment for the US offshore wind industry,” he said. Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey. “Looking ahead, Massachusetts is moving toward energy independence thanks to our nation-leading work to build the offshore wind industry,” he added.
The entry into operation has so far occurred on a small scale. As part of the initial commissioning process, at 11:52 p.m. on Tuesday, January 2, 2024, one turbine delivered approximately five megawatts of power, with additional testing both onshore and offshore expected to take place in the coming weeks. high seas. The project hopes to have five turbines operating at full capacity soon.
Power from the projects is interconnected with the New England grid in Barnstable, transmitted by underground cables that connect to a substation further inland on Cape Cod. Once completed, the project, located about 25 kilometers off the coast of Martha's Vineyard will consist of 62 wind turbines that will generate 806 megawatts (MW), enough to power more than 400,000 homes and businesses in Massachusetts.
According to Avangrid, the park will create 3,600 full-time equivalent jobs, save customers $1.4 billion over the first 20 years of operation and is expected to reduce carbon emissions by more than 1.6 million metric tons annually. year, the equivalent of removing 325,000 cars from circulation annually.
Canceled contracts
In addition to 50% of Vineyard Wind, Avangrid owns 100% of Commonwealth Wind (1,200 MW in Massachusetts), Park City Wind (804 MW in Connecticut), two of the most advanced offshore wind projects in the United States. Additionally, it is developing Kitty Hawk Wind, which has the potential to supply 3,500 megawatts to Virginia and North Carolina, enough energy to power one million homes and businesses in the region. The company has been indicating since 2022 that it is looking for partners for these projects, but the complicated environment has made its incorporation difficult.
Avangrid agreed last summer to pay $48 million (about €44 million at current exchange rates) to break the energy marketing agreements of Commonwealth Wind, its project for the largest offshore wind farm in New England, with 1,200 megawatts. and an investment of 4,000 million dollars. The company considered that the project was not economically viable under the initially agreed conditions and asked to renegotiate the contracts, but the electricity distributors closed down altogether.
Similar cancellations of contracts by other companies have occurred in other states such as Connecticut and New Jersey. This same Wednesday it was the Norwegian Equinor and the British BP that broke their agreement to sell energy to the state of New York from their Empire Wind 2 offshore wind farm, alleging the increase in inflation, the rise in interest rates and problems in the supply chain.
“Commercial viability is critical for ambitious projects of this size and scale. “The decision on Empire Wind 2 provides the opportunity to readjust and develop a more solid and robust project for the future,” said Molly Morris, president of Equinor Renewables America, in a statement..
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