Page 36: of Marine News Magazine (May 2025)

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Offshore Wind ners takes a deep dive into the changes to the offshore wind impose penalties on owner/operators of Chinese-built ves- landscape in the United States and assesses the impact on sels. Further, disbursement of IRA (In? ation Reduction project activity. Act) related tax credits, on which many offshore wind proj- ects rely, is on hold and law makers are reviewing which tax

What has Happened? credits will remain in the new federal budget.

On the day that he was sworn in to of? ce, President

Trump issued a Presidential Memorandum entitled Is that it – is the industry in the U.S. dead and buried?

“Temporary withdrawal of all areas of the Outer Conti- While the industry has taken quite a hit over the last nental Shelf for offshore wind leasing and review of the few months, there are some reasons to maintain longer- federal government’s leasing and permitting practices for term optimism premised on the activities of several in- wind projects”. dividual states. The foundation of this optimism is ~81

Under the Presidential Memorandum on offshore GW of state procurement targets. Nine Northeast and wind, there will be no new offshore wind leases issued on Mid-Atlantic states have established legally binding off- the outer continental shelf (OCS) until the suspension shore wind targets amounting to ~53 GW through 2040. is withdrawn, existing awarded leases supporting ~40-80 On the Paci? c Coast, California and Oregon seek to col-

GW will be reviewed to see if there are any legal reasons lectively procure 28 GW of ? oating wind by 2045. Other to cancel the leases and no new construction and opera- states add ~17.5 GW of inferred targets to the planning tion approvals will be given, which currently impacts ~14 pipeline. To date, ~9 GW of federally permitted capacity

GW of project capacity. In the worst case, at least 50 GW has secured offtake agreements and a further 2.5 GW is of project capacity which developers had planned to ad- expected to be procured within this year. vance over the next four years will not materialize. ~5.5 GW of commercial wind farm capacity is being

As a direct result of the changing environment, several built. Offshore construction works are advancing on developers have delayed projects and several signi? cant Vineyard 1, Revolution, CVOW-C, Sunrise and will start supply chain investments have been cancelled. Utilities on Empire Wind 1 in early April, and site assessment for and developers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island have future developments continues in other offshore leases.

recently asked for a three-month extension to negotia- tions for ~2 GW of power purchase agreements for the What does this mean for the maritime supply chain?

South Coast Wind and New England Wind projects. Offshore wind construction and O&M vessels were

Whilst New England Wind has completed permitting, previously designated as vessels of “national interest”,

SouthCoast Wind has yet to secure the award of permits meaning they received priority treatment for preferential from three federal agencies. As a result, the developer, ? nancing terms under the Federal Ship Financing Pro-

Ocean Winds, has recognized a ~$270 million impair- gram (MARAD Title XI). It is unclear how this program ment on its U.S. offshore wind portfolio and expects a will be managed going forward but it is assumed that the delay in project construction from 2026 to 2030. The priority will no longer be on offshore wind vessels.

permitted Atlantic Shores South development has already While there remains space for foreign ? ag construction seen one of its approved permits withdrawn by the En- vessels, mainly for turbine and foundation installation vironmental Protection Agency for further review. Legal and cable lay, much of the offshore wind market in the challenges outside of federal agencies to permitting proj- USA is restricted to Jones Act vessels.

ects are also ongoing, including multiple cases addressing One Jones Act compliant WTIV (WTIV Charyb- permitting issues put forward to district courts and to the dis), one scour protection vessel (Acadia), three Tier 1

Supreme Court. SOVs (two ECO new builds, one for Ørsted’s Northeast

While not directly targeted at offshore wind, other presi- Cluster and one for Empire Wind, and one Fincantieri dential executive orders and initiatives will impact offshore Bay vessel for Dominion’s CVOW-C), one Tier 2 SOV wind projects, such as tariffs on imports or a proposal to (a Hornbeck SOV conversion) and 38 CTVs (excluding 36 | MN May 2025