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America’s Bet on Wind Power Is Running Into a Big Problem. Higher costs and serious delays are plaguing offshore wind projects.
Barron's ^ | July 21, 2023 | Avi Salzman

Posted on 07/23/2023 4:03:01 PM PDT by karpov

...

Financially, the [wind power] industry is teetering, with a parade of companies planning to renegotiate or pull out of contracts, jeopardizing plans for projects that were expected to provide electricity for millions of homes. Inflation is erasing profits, causing some of the largest energy firms in the world to back away. “Returns on offshore wind are becoming more and more challenged,” Shell CEO Wael Sawan told Barron’s last month, just days after a Shell joint venture said it would pull out of a power contract in Massachusetts. Shell won’t build renewable projects that can’t earn initial returns of 6% to 8%, he said.

At least eight multinational companies in three states have quietly started to back out of wind contracts, or ask to renegotiate deals in ways that will pass more costs to consumers. Beyond Shell (ticker: SHEL), they include BP (BP), Denmark’s Orsted (DNNGY), Norway’s Equinor (EQNR), Spain’s Iberdrola (IBDRY), Portugal’s Energias de Portugal (EDPFY), and France’s Engie (ENGIY) and state-owned Electricite de France. The projects those companies are building will collectively cost tens of billions of dollars to construct and connect to the grid. The cost problems they’re facing make offshore wind a dicey investment proposition today, with the potential for substantial write-downs ahead.

America’s pledge to decarbonize is at risk, too. President Joe Biden announced a goal in 2021 to have 30 gigawatts of offshore wind power installed by 2030, enough to power roughly 10 million homes, up from essentially zero today. “We’re going to make sure that the ocean is open for the clean energy of our future,” Biden said last year.

Credit Suisse analyst Mark Freshney says there’s little chance that the country will reach Biden’s goal.

“We won’t get there,” he says. “We might get to 15.”

(Excerpt) Read more at barrons.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: energy; savethewhales; wind
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Full article. The article later mentions that wind developers are renegotiating contracts with states to get higher prices, which will be passed on to consumers.
1 posted on 07/23/2023 4:03:01 PM PDT by karpov
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To: karpov

now...who could have predicted such a thing...?


2 posted on 07/23/2023 4:04:21 PM PDT by Republican Wildcat
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To: karpov

It is not intended to function.

It is another tentacle of Cloward-Piven intended to overwhelm the system.


3 posted on 07/23/2023 4:08:03 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (The worst thing about censorship is ████ █ ██████ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ ████████. FJB.)
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To: Republican Wildcat

Cmon, man. Pauseable energy is good for the soul! Know where your candles are!


4 posted on 07/23/2023 4:09:03 PM PDT by RossA
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To: karpov

They should build more nuclear power plants, hook them up to the windmills and turn them into giant fans.


5 posted on 07/23/2023 4:13:15 PM PDT by Neverlift
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Yup. Too bad only .0001% of the population ever heard of those 60s Marxist bastards.


6 posted on 07/23/2023 4:14:55 PM PDT by Cobra64 (Common sense isn’t common anymore)
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To: karpov

The silly things only have a 20 year life span.


7 posted on 07/23/2023 4:17:04 PM PDT by Cobra64 (Common sense isn’t common anymore)
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To: karpov

What’s the jersey shore dead whale count up to this week?


8 posted on 07/23/2023 4:33:52 PM PDT by thinden (buckle up ....)
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To: karpov

I hate those unsightly, scenic-ruining inefficient monstrosities.


9 posted on 07/23/2023 4:34:35 PM PDT by beethovenfan (The REAL Great Reset will be when Jesus returns. )
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To: karpov

You know it’s a scam when you are going down the same pathway as Germany as getting the same results as Germany.


10 posted on 07/23/2023 4:36:51 PM PDT by Jonty30 (If liberals were truth tellers, they'd call themselves literals. )
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To: Neverlift

I’ll drink to that.


11 posted on 07/23/2023 4:43:13 PM PDT by crusty old prospector
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To: karpov

LOL.


12 posted on 07/23/2023 4:45:04 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer ("There's no cryin' in baseball and there's no ethics in politics!" )
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To: karpov
Everyone on the planet except liberals go.....


13 posted on 07/23/2023 4:46:12 PM PDT by Kenny Bania (Ovaltine? Why not call it Roundtine?)
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To: Cobra64
The silly things only have a 20 year life span.

And the fiberglass blades are toxic waste, and are impossible to recycle.

14 posted on 07/23/2023 4:48:01 PM PDT by Chad C. Mulligan
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To: karpov

I can hardly wait for the 30 million acre one in the gulf off the Texas coast. To supply power to 11 million hom....... Hey, what a minute. That’s over 2 acres per. Then when a Cat 5 hurricane meanders through......instant artificial reef habitat. Fookin’idjits! 😬🖕


15 posted on 07/23/2023 5:00:37 PM PDT by rktman (Destroy America from within? Check! WTH? Enlisted USN 1967 to end up with this💩? 🚫💉)
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To: Neverlift

Ya got a chuckle out of me w/ that one :)


16 posted on 07/23/2023 5:22:50 PM PDT by Migraine
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To: karpov

The green energy fraud was birthed and supported by zero interest rates, massive debt, and globalization

All of these trends have ended, so the “easy” part of green energy is over. Now comes massive coercion


17 posted on 07/23/2023 5:42:00 PM PDT by PGR88
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Also any disabled large vessels in the windmill field may not be able to be rescued if the WX is severe. Broken off blades often float and rescue vessel navigation in such a debris field is very hazardous.


18 posted on 07/23/2023 5:57:54 PM PDT by USCG SimTech
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To: karpov

Solar sucks just as bad!


19 posted on 07/23/2023 6:16:08 PM PDT by COSIllinois
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To: karpov

Should have built them around D.C. with all that hot wind.


20 posted on 07/23/2023 7:28:37 PM PDT by bgill
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