New York state officials announced last week that three offshore wind turbine projects have been canceled, a major hit to the green energy industry and the federal government’s climate agenda. The projects, which have been in development by LM Wind Power and General Electric subsidiary GE Vernova for several years, would also have provided nearly 900 jobs to local workers.
Although all three projects received provisional awards in October 2023, months of contract negotiations slowed the process significantly.
“Subsequent to the provisional award announcement, material modifications to projects bid into New York’s third offshore wind solicitation caused technical and commercial complexities between provisional awardees and their partners, resulting in the provisionally awarded parties’ inability to come to terms,” said the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) on Friday.
In February, GE canceled plans for a larger single-turbine installation as well, which became the main reason for the delay of the other projects given the high cost of building more installations to generate the same power.
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The cancelation of the GE projects represents the latest in a series of major setbacks for the offshore wind sector. As Valuetainment previously reported, Denmark-based energy developer Orsted abruptly stopped construction on two massive offshore wind turbine farms in New Jersey last year, citing supply chain issues and high inflation. Other projects from a number of companies have similarly been canceled or postponed in the last year.
The Biden administration had previously committed to an ambitious goal of producing 30 gigawatts of wind energy by 2030, but every terminated project puts that goal further out of reach. New York State has adopted a similar goal, aiming to become the nation’s foremost producer of renewable wind energy by the next decade.
After the latest cancelation, NYSERDA “remains committed to advancing New York’s offshore wind industry in pursuit of the state’s Climate Act goals,” and is actively soliciting new manufacturers to take up the $300 million contract.
Connor Walcott is a staff writer for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X and look for him on VT’s “The Unusual Suspects.”
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