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Offshore wind holds great promise as a source of clean, domestic, renewable energy that can meet the needs of communities along the nation’s coastlines. And — according to the Offshore Wind Market Report: 2021 Edition, written by a team of researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and its National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) — the U.S. offshore wind industry made gale-force gains in 2020 and early 2021. The offshore wind pipeline grew 24% in that time period, with 35,324 megawatts (MW) now in various stages of development.

And that is not all. Increased industry interest, combined with the Biden administration’s goal to deploy 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind power by 2030, may propel the offshore wind energy industry to greater heights in the coming years.

Released on Aug. 30, 2021, the report highlighted that:

  • The U.S. offshore wind pipeline includes two operating projects: the 30-MW Block Island Wind Farm off Rhode Island and the 12-MW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind pilot project. The 800-MW Vineyard Wind 1 project near Massachusetts became the first fully approved, commercial, offshore wind energy project in the United States, receiving all permits, an offtake contract to sell the power it generates, and an interconnection agreement to deliver that electricity to the grid.
  • Fifteen projects in the offshore wind energy pipeline have reached the permitting phase, 16 commercial leases in federal waters have gained exclusive site control, and seven wind energy areas can now be leased at the discretion of the federal government. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), which regulates energy development in federal waters, has also designated nine Call Areas — areas being considered for future offshore wind energy development.
  • The Biden administration’s target of installing 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030 is the United States’ first national offshore wind energy goal. Alongside this national-level goal, states are aiming to procure at least 39,298 MW of offshore wind capacity by 2040. The U.S. offshore wind energy industry made additional supply chain and infrastructure investments over the past year, like the first U.S.-flagged offshore wind turbine installation vessel, which began construction in Brownsville, Texas, in 2020.
  • Technology trends indicate growing turbine sizes, which is one of the main drivers behind lower offshore wind energy costs. Three leading turbine manufacturers — Siemens Gamesa, Vestas, and General Electric — have announced the development of larger offshore wind turbines ranging from 12 to 15 MW. These manufacturers have reported their intention to make wind turbines at these nameplate ratings available for purchase by 2024 or sooner, and U.S. orders indicate that most projects in the current pipeline will obtain wind turbines from one of these manufacturers.
  • Governments, energy companies, and end users are increasingly looking at offshore wind as a power source to produce green hydrogen, which can be used in other sectors of the economy — like transportation, heating, industry, grid storage — as a zero-emission fuel.

“This report shows that the offshore wind market is on an upward curve, both nationally and globally,” said Walt Musial, an NREL principal engineer and the lead report author. “Maturing technology and falling costs have driven that curve for several years, and today, we’re seeing a continuation of those trends. Here, in the United States, federal and state support are also adding momentum.”

NREL and DOE began working in offshore wind energy research in 2003 to address the growing interest in offshore wind power technology and innovation, both domestically and in Europe. Since then, NREL’s work in offshore wind energy has included:

  • Developing concepts to accelerate technological advancement
  • Working with DOE and BOEM (and previously the Minerals Management Service) to evaluate possible sites and technologies that can be deployed in the United States
  • Working with industry members to create partnerships and relationships that could lead to commercial systems and projects
  • Creating open-source engineering tools and standards for offshore wind turbine designs
  • Developing economic models and analyses that demonstrate potential for cost reduction and lower uncertainty of offshore wind costs
  • Conducting resource assessments that have validated offshore wind power as a potentially major contributor to the electric grid
  • Providing analyses that inform understanding of future offshore wind technologies
  • Designing technical training for BOEM and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement staff
  • Modeling national and regional grid systems to help electric utilities understand the impacts of offshore wind energy when integrated with the electrical grid.

“Looking to the future, we expect offshore wind energy in the United States to expand beyond the North and Mid-Atlantic into the Pacific, Great Lakes, and the Gulf of Mexico,” Musial said. “That expansion means abundant energy at lower costs, job growth, and progress toward decarbonization. NREL will continue to leverage its expertise, world-class facilities, and industry, research, and commercial partnerships to help the United States lead the charge forward.”

The Offshore Wind Market Report: 2021 Edition provides detailed information about the U.S. and global offshore wind energy industries to inform policymakers, researchers, and analysts about technology and market trends. The report covers the status of more than 200 globally operating offshore wind projects through Dec. 31, 2020, and provides details and analysis on a broader global pipeline of projects in various stages of development. To deliver the most up-to-date discussion about this evolving industry, the report also provides a deeper assessment of domestic offshore wind energy developments and events through May 31, 2021.

The report is a companion to the Land-Based Wind Market Report: 2021 Edition, prepared by DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the Distributed Wind Market Report: 2021 Edition, prepared by DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. These three reports offer unbiased, independent, public reporting of the current state of the wind energy industry and provide insight into multiyear trends.

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT:

Offshore Wind Market Report: 2021 Edition: Full Report

Offshore Wind Market Report: 2021 Edition: Executive Summary

Offshore Wind Market Report: 2021 Edition: Summary Slides

Offshore Wind Market Report: 2021 Edition Data

Article courtesy of NREL.

 

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This $900 million solar farm in Texas is going 100% to data centers

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This 0 million solar farm in Texas is going 100% to data centers

Enbridge is going big on solar again in Texas, and Meta is snapping up all the solar power it can get.

Last month, Electrek reported that the Canadian oil and gas pipeline giant just launched its first solar farm in Texas. Now it’s given the green light to Clear Fork, a 600 megawatt (MW) utility-scale solar farm already under construction near San Antonio. The project is expected to come online in summer 2027.

Once it’s up and running, every bit of Clear Fork’s electricity will go to Meta Platforms under a long-term contract. Meta will use the solar power to help run its energy-hungry data centers entirely on clean energy.

The solar farm project’s cost is around $900 million. Enbridge says it expects Clear Fork to boost the company’s cash flow and earnings starting in 2027.

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Enbridge EVP Matthew Akman said the project reflects “growing demand for renewable power across North America from blue-chip companies involved in technology and data center operations.”

Meta’s head of global energy, Urvi Parekh, added that the company is “thrilled to partner with Enbridge to bring new renewable energy to Texas and help support our operations with 100% clean energy.”

Meta’s first multi-gigawatt data center, Prometheus, is expected to come online in 2026.

Clear Fork is part of a growing trend: tech giants like Meta, Amazon, and Google are racing to lock down renewable energy contracts as they expand their fleets of AI-ready data centers, which use massive amounts of electricity.


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Isuzu’s first electric pickup is impressive, but it’s not cheap

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Isuzu's first electric pickup is impressive, but it's not cheap

A fully electric Japanese electric pickup truck? It’s not a Toyota or Honda, but Isuzu’s new electric pickup packs a punch. The D-MAX EV can tow over 7,770 lbs (3,500 kg), plow through nearly 24″ (600 mm) of water, and it even has a dedicated Terrain Mode for extreme off-roading. However, it comes at a cost.

Meet Isuzu’s first electric pickup: The D-MAX EV

After announcing that it had begun building left-hand drive D-MAX EV models at the end of April, Isuzu said that it would start shipping them to Europe in the third quarter.

By the end of the year, Isuzu will begin production of right-hand drive models for the UK. Sales will follow in early 2026.

Isuzu announced prices this week, boasting the D-MAX EV features the same “no compromise durability” of the current diesel version.

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The D-MAX EV pickup features a full-time 4WD system, a towing capacity of up to 3.5 tons (7,700 lbs), and an added Terrain Mode, which Isuzu says is designed for “extreme off-road capability.” With 210 mm (8.3″) of ground clearance, Isuzu’s electric pickup can wade through up to 600 mm (24″) of water.

Powered by a 66.9 kWh battery, Isuzu’s electric pickup offers a WLTP range of 163 miles. With charging speeds of up to 50 kW, the D-MAX EV can recharge from 20% to 80% in about an hour.

The electric version is nearly identical to the current diesel-powered D-Max, both inside and out, but prices will be significantly higher.

Isuzu D-Max EV specs and prices
Drive System Full-time 4×4
Battery Type Lithium-ion
Battery Capacity 66.9 kWh
WLTP driving range 163 miles
Max Output 130 kW (174 hp)
Max Torque 325 Nm
Max Speed Over 130 km/h (+80 mph)
Max Payload 1,000 kg (+2,200 lbs)
Max Towing Capacity 3.5t (+7,700 lbs)
Ground Clearance 210 mm
Wading Depth 600 mm
Starting Price (*Ex. VAT) £59,995 ($81,000)
Isuzu D-Max EV electric pickup prices and specs

Isuzu’s electric pickup will be priced from £59,995 ($81,000), not including VAT. The double cab variant starts at £60,995 ($82,500). In comparison, the diesel model starts at £36,755 ($50,000).

The EV pickup will launch in extended and double cab variants with two premium trims: the eDL40 and V-Cross. Pre-sales will begin later this year with the first UK arrivals scheduled for February 2026. Customer deliveries are set to follow in March.

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AI startups raised $104 billion in first half of year, but exits tell a different story

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AI startups raised 4 billion in first half of year, but exits tell a different story

In this photo illustration, Claude AI logo is seen on a smartphone and Anthropic logo on a pc screen. (Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

OpenAI and Anthropic continue to lead a fundraising bonanza in artificial intelligence, raising historic rounds and stratospheric valuations.

But when it comes to finding AI exits for venture firms, the market looks a lot different.

AI startups raised $104.3 billion in the U.S. in the first half of this year, nearly matching the $104.4 billion total for 2024, according to PitchBook. Almost two-thirds of all U.S. venture funding went to AI, up from 49% last year, PitchBook said.

The biggest deals follow a familiar theme. OpenAI raised a record $40 billion in March in a round led by SoftBank. Meta poured $14.3 billion into Scale AI in June as part of a way to hire away CEO Alexandr Wang and a few other top staffers. OpenAI rival Anthropic raised $3.5 billion, while Safe Superintelligence, a nascent startup started by OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, raised $2 billion.

While Meta’s massive investment into Scale AI amounted to a lucrative exit of sorts for early investors, the overarching trend has been a lot more money going in than coming out.

In the first half, there were 281 VC-backed exits totaling $36 billion, according to PitchBook. That includes the roughly $700 million acquisition of EvolutionIQ, an AI platform for disability and injury claims management, by CCC Intelligent Solutions, and the public listing of Slide Insurance, which builds AI-powered insurance offerings for homeowners. Slide is valued at about $2.3 billion.

Read more CNBC reporting on AI

“The dominant exit trend right now is frequent but lower-value acquisitions and fewer IPOs with significantly higher value,” said Dimitri Zabelin, PitchBook’s senior research analyst for AI and cybersecurity.

CoreWeave’s IPO, which took place at the very end of the first quarter, was the exception on the infrastructure side. The stock shot up 340% in the second quarter, and the company is now valued at over $63 billion.

Zabelin said the pattern of more investments in applications with smaller deals has been in place for the past year.

“Vertical solutions tend to plug more easily into existing enterprise gaps,” Zabelin said.

The acquisitions wave is being driven, in part, by what Zabelin calls bolt-on deals where larger companies buy smaller startups to enhance their own future valuations, hoping to enhance their value ahead of a future sale or IPO.

“That also has to do with the current liquidity conditions in the macro environment,” Zabelin said.

Outside of AI, activity is slow. U.S. fintech funding dropped 42% in the first half of the year to $10.5 billion, according to Tracxn. Cloud software and crypto have also seen sharp pullbacks.

Zabelin said IPO activity could pick up if economic conditions improve and if interest rates come down. Investors clearly want opportunities to back promising AI companies, he said.

“The appetite for AI, specifically vertical applications, will continue to remain robust,” Zabelin said.

— CNBC’s Kevin Schmidt contributed to this report.

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