Here’s why the US race to deploy floating offshore wind is vital

Published

2 years ago

February 23, 2023

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The US has a goal of deploying 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030 – and that can’t happen without floating offshore wind farms.

The Departments of Energy, the Interior, Commerce, and Transportation are today on their second day of a two-day Floating Offshore Wind Shot Summit. The summit’s goal, which is being attended by federal and state government leaders, and industry and labor leaders, is to cut the cost of floating offshore wind energy by over 70% by 2035.

MIT Technology Review noted in December:

Estimates are tricky because the technology is so new, but the US Department of Energy pegs the cost of floating offshore wind at about $200 per megawatt hour. That’s significantly more expensive than the agency’s estimates for land-based wind ($30), solar ($35) and even fixed offshore wind ($80).

The Summit aims to cut the cost to $45 per megawatt-hour. They want to achieve this with “breakthroughs across engineering, manufacturing, and other innovation areas.”

So basically, the Summit is an intense brainstorming session that its delegates then have to roll out in a viable and timely way in order to achieve the Floating Offshore Wind Shot‘s goals:

Develop cost-effective technologies for deeper waters
Bring power onshore to areas of high demand
Create jobs in operations, construction, manufacturing, and more
Ensure environmental sustainability and ocean co-use
Expand supply chains including tailoring port infrastructure to support development
Deploy large amounts of reliable, clean power
Help revitalize port and manufacturing communities.

Electrek’s Take

Offshore floating wind is now being rolled out all over the world. It’s also really new. In September 2022, a White House brief noted that “globally, only 0.1 GW of floating offshore wind has been deployed to date, compared with over 50 GW of fixed-bottom offshore wind.”

And when it comes to the US, which is the very beginning of its offshore wind deployment, around two-thirds of US offshore wind energy potential is in water that’s too deep for fixed-bottom wind turbines.

The US’s goal is to deploy 15 GW of floating offshore wind capacity by 2035, so it’s got its work cut out to reach this goal. But hey, it put a man on the moon in the 60s, and there’s already a fairly good general grasp of the technology, seeing how it’s already been successfully deployed in places like Norway, Scotland, and Portugal.

The Floating Offshore Wind Shot’s goals are on point, and this effort is going to be herculean and extremely challenging. I’m hopeful, because really cool clean energy innovation that is being used IRL literally lands in my inbox every day. Let’s hope innovation and momentum triumphs at the Summit this week.

Photo: WindFloat Atlantic, Portugal

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Beta Technologies founder completes first test flight in its production-intent eCTOL [Video]

Published

4 hours ago

November 14, 2024

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Beta Technologies founder completes first test flight in its production-intent eCTOL [Video]

All-electric aircraft developer BETA Technologies has shared another important milestone in bringing its first two vessels to market. Most recently, BETA’s founder, CEO, and test pilot Kyle Clark took the production version of its ALIA eCTOL up for its first flight, as seen in the video below.

BETA Technologies is a fully integrated electric aircraft and systems developer based in Vermont. Three years ago, it debuted its first electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, the ALIA–250. That BETA vessel has since been renamed the ALIA VTOL and completed a piloted test flight transitioning mid-air this past April.

In addition to the ALIA VTOL, BETA has also been developing an electric conventional takeoff and landing (eCTOL) plane called the ALIA CTOL. To date, it has flown tens of thousands of test miles en route to evaluation flights for FAA certification. That aircraft is targeting full approval for commercial operations by 2025.

As BETA moves closer to bringing the ALIA CTOL to the public, it has completed its first bonafide production build in South Burlington. Following a Special Airworthiness Certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), BETA has successfully taken its production-ready ALIA CTOL up for a test flight, piloted by its founder and CEO.

Watch BETA’s founder complete a CTOL test flight

BETA Technologies shared details of its first successful production CTOL test flight today alongside the images above and the full video below.

Once the production-intent build of the ALIA CTOL was complete, the FAA inspected the aircraft for safety and compliance before granting BETA a Multipurpose Special Airworthiness Certificate for Experimental Research & Development, Market Survey, and Crew Training, signing-off approval for test flights.

On November 13, BETA CEO, founder, and test pilot Kyle Clark conducted the first test flight of the ALIA CTOL aircraft, which lasted nearly an hour. The test included a conventional runway takeoff before the aircraft climbed to 7,000 feet.

While in the air, Clark tested the aircraft’s handling qualities, stability, control test points, and initial airspeed expansion before completing several approaches ahead of a normal landing. Clark spoke following the successful flight:

This start of our production CX300 flight test campaign is a result of years of hard work and focus on studying customer requirements, hard engineering, manufacturing, production, quality and test. It represents a significant milestone for BETA, and is the beginning of an exciting new phase for the business. With this, we’re one step closer to putting this technology into the hands of our customers.

We learned a lot from this first production build. We weren’t just building an aircraft company, we were building and refining a system to build high quality aircraft efficiently. This first build allowed the team to collect data and insight on manufacturing labor, tooling design, processes, yields and sequences, all of which are being used to refine our production systems.

With its production test flight campaign now underway, BETA says it will continue testing the ALIA CTOL aircraft for the standard 50 hours required before qualifying for a Market Survey and Crew Training certificate. That next certificate will enable BETA to fly outside of Burlington and Plattsburgh and continue training additional pilots on the aircraft.

The company shared it will also continue production of additional aircraft, including ALIA CTOL and ALIA VTOL configurations, the latter of which was recently teased in October. You can view footage of BETA’s CTOL flight below.

[embedded content]

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Environment

U.S. crude oil rises, trades around $69 per barrel

Published

4 hours ago

November 14, 2024

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U.S. crude oil rises, trades around per barrel

Crude oil futures rose slightly on Thursday, with the U.S. benchmark trading around $69 per barrel, though the market outlook remains bearish.

Global crude supplies are expected to outstrip demand by more than 1 million barrels per day next year led by robust growth in the U.S., according to the International Energy Agency’s monthly market report.

Here are today’s energy prices by 8:07 a.m. ET:

West Texas Intermediate December contract: $68.92 per barrel, up 49 cents, or 0.7%. Year to date, U.S. crude oil is down more than 3%.
Brent January contract: $72.78 per barrel, up 50 cents, or 0.7%. Year to date, the global benchmark is down more than 5%.
RBOB Gasoline December contract: $1.9711 per gallon, up 0.3%. Year to date, gasoline has fallen nearly 6%.
Natural Gas December contract: $2.966 per thousand cubic feet, down 0.6%. Year to date, gas has gained nearly 18%.

UBS slashed its price forecast for global benchmark Brent to $80 per barrel from $87 previously on weakening demand in China, the world’s largest crude importer.

OPEC on Tuesday cut its demand growth forecast for the fourth month in a row earlier this week.

U.S. crude oil has shed about 4% and Brent is down 3.5% since Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential as the dollar has surged. A stronger U.S. dollar can depress oil demand among buyers that hold other currencies.

Don’t miss these energy insights from CNBC PRO:

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Loren McDonald stops by Quick Charge to discuss EV charging, Paren, and more

Published

15 hours ago

November 14, 2024

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Loren McDonald stops by Quick Charge to discuss EV charging, Paren, and more

Leading electric vehicle analyst, author, and industry thought leaders Loren McDonald and Bill Ferro stop by Quick Charge to discuss EV Adoption’s acquisition by Paren, the “crisis” of EV charging reliability, and the real state of the EV market.

Depending on who you listen, EVs are either driving brands to record growth and are about cross that critical 10% of the overall market nationwide, or the future is bleak, the market is down, and EVs just aren’t selling. What’s really going on? Loren and Bill (probably) have some answers.

Today’s episode is sponsored by BLUETTI, a leading provider of portable power stations, solar generators, and energy storage systems. For a limited time, save up to 52% during BLUETTI’s exclusive Black Friday sale, now through November 28, and be sure to use promo code BLUETTI5OFF for 5% off all power stations site wide. Click here to learn more.

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