ATLANTIC CITY, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Today, Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind (Atlantic Shores) announced the launch of two buoys that will collect critical atmospheric and weather data, and track the migration of species of birds, fish, turtles and other animals that have been nanotagged by researchers. Each buoy will be deployed in the offshore wind developer’s Lease Area off the coast of Atlantic City to strengthen atmospheric models that help inform how the developer designs and estimates energy production for their proposed project. Some data collected will also help deepen research of the Mid-Atlantic Cold Pool as well as help study animal migration and stop-over activities to inform the development of offshore wind in the area. Full article at Businesswire

Bloomberg Energy Briefing – Diverse Coalition Supports Biden Offshore Wind Expansion Plans: “A broad coalition of national nonprofits, labor unions, developers, and environmental justice organizations released a “unity statement” …praising the administration’s recent announcement to significantly expand offshore wind leasing and investment.” WASHINGTON—Last week, a broad coalition of business, community, environmental, and labor groups issued the following statement in response to the Biden Administration’s announcement of new leasing, funding, and development goals to accelerate and deploy offshore wind energy and jobs. “As renewable energy developers, workers of all stripes, front-line community members, and environmental advocates, we applaud President Biden’s early, bold commitments to advance 30 gigawatts (GW) of responsible offshore wind development by 2030. The Administration-wide approach to jumpstart American offshore wind power—including tangible next steps on leasing, permitting, port investments, loan guarantees, research funding, and more—offers a solid game plan for confronting the climate crisis and ensuring we Build Back Better. “We face unprecedented and intersecting environmental, public health, and economic crises that exacerbate racial and social injustices—presenting an existential threat to our communities, our nation, and our world. Offshore wind is uniquely positioned to help address these challenges. The Administration’s sweeping, whole-government approach outlined this week signals the urgency, seriousness, and determination that is needed to face these threats head on. “We are united in our belief that done right, offshore wind power will create thousands of quality, family-sustaining jobs in manufacturing, construction, operations, and maintenance, and in the development of port facilities and associated infrastructure. We agree that offshore wind power can and must be developed in a manner that protects coastal and marine ecosystems and advances social and racial equity and environmental justice. “Together, we stand ready to work with the Biden Administration to help fulfill today’s offshore wind commitments with a comprehensive, responsible approach to scaling up this critical new energy source for America.” Signed By: Acadia Center, Deborah Donovan Aker Offshore Wind, Jonah Margulis Alliance for Affordable Energy, Jessica Hendricks All Our Energy, George Povall Alliance for Clean Energy New York, Anne Reynolds Anbaric, Janice Fuller Atlantic Marine Conservation Society, Robert A. DiGiovanni, Jr. Atlantic Offshore Terminals LLC, Boone Davis Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, Jennifer Daniels Avangrid Renewables, Bill White BlueGreen Alliance, Jason Walsh Brightline Defense, Eddie Ahn Bristol Community College, Jennifer Menard Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, LLP, J Kevin Healy Building and Construction Trades Council of Nassau and Suffolk Counties, Matty Arachic Business Network for Offshore Wind, Liz Burdock Capital Region Chamber, Mark Eagan Center for Economic Growth, Katie Newcombe Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Adrienne Esposito Climate Jobs NY, Jeff Vockrodt Climate Reality Chautauqua Chapter, Lisa Mertz Climate Reality Finger Lakes Greater Region NY Chapter, Thomas Hirasuna Climate Reality Peconic Region Chapter, Cate Rogers Concerned Citizens of Montauk, Laura Tooman Connecticut Audubon Society, Patrick Comins Connecticut League of Conservation Voters, Lori Brown Conservation Law Foundation, Sean Mahoney Delaware Interfaith Power & Light, John Sykes Defenders of Wildlife, Jim Lyons Drive Electric Long Island Coalition, Marjaneh Issapour E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs), Sandra Purohit EnBW, Damian Bednarz Environmental Defense Fund, Elizabeth Gore Environmental League of MA, Elizabeth Turnbull Henry Equinor Wind US, Anders Hangeland Foley Hoag LLP, Noah Shah Green Energy Consumers Alliance, Kai Salem Grow Smart Rhode Island, Scott Millar Gulf of Maine Sustainability Alliance, Dave Wilby Gulf States Renewable Energy Industry Association, Stephen Wright Jersey Renews Coalition, Berenice Tompkins League of Conservation Voters, Sara Chieffo Long Island Association, Kevin Law Long Island Contractor’s Association (LICA), Marc Herbst Long Island Federation of Labor, Roger Clayman Magellan Wind, Jim Lanard Mainstream Renewable Power, Paula Major Maryland League of Conservation Voters, Kim Coble Massachusetts AFL-CIO, Chrissy Lynch Mayflower Wind, Michael Brown Mid-Atlantic Renewable Energy Coalition, Bruce Burcat Mothers Out Front, Susan Helms Daley Nassau Hiking & Outdoor Club, Guy Jacob National Audubon Society, Garry George National Grid, Badar Khan National Wildlife Federation, Catherine Bowes Natural Resources Defense Council, Nathanael Greene New England for Offshore Wind, Susannah Hatch New Jersey Audubon, Drew Tompkins New Jersey League of Conservation Voters, Ed Potosnak New Jersey Organizing Project, Amanda Devecka-Rinear NJ Work Environment Council, Debra Coyle McFadden New York League of Conservation Voters, Julie Tighe New York Offshore Wind Alliance, Joe Martens NY4WHALES, William Rossiter Ocean Conservancy, Anne Merwin OCEANA, Diane Hoskins Offshore Wind California, Adam Stern Orsted North America, Inc., Fred Zalcman OW Ocean Winds, Enrique Alvarez-Uria Port of Albany, New York, Richard J. Hendrick ProsperityForRI.com, Greg Gerritt Reel Therapy Charters, Capt. Paul Eidman Regional Planning Association, Robert Freudenberg RENEW Northeast, Francis Pullaro Renewable Energy and Sustainability Center (RESC) at Farmingdale State College, Professor Marjaneh Issapour Renewable Energy Long Island, Gordian Raacke RWE, Dominik Schwegmann Rise Light & Power, Clint Plummer SAFE (Salem Alliance for the Environment), Patricia Gozemba Save the Sound, Charles J. Rothenberger Second Nature, Tim Carter Seed Kit, Ana Mallozzi Sierra Club, Bill Corcoran Sisters of St. Joseph, Sister Karen Burke, CSJ, EdD South Shore Audubon Society, Brien Weiner Southeastern Wind Coalition, Katharine Kollins Southern Environmental Law Center, David Carr Special Initiative on Offshore Wind, Univ. of Delaware, Kris Ohleth Students for Climate Action, Harrison Bench Suffolk CLimate Reality Chapter, Melissa Griffiths The Alliance for Business Leadership, Jen Benson The Climate Actors, Tim Guinee The Climate Reality Westchester Chapter, Janet Harckham The Hudson Valley & Catskills Climate Reality Chapter, Tim Guinee The Nature Conservancy, Stu Gruskin UMass Lowell, Mary Usovicz Union of Concerned Scientists, John Rogers Univeristy of Delaware, College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment, Dean Estella Akweseh Atekwana US Wind, Jeffrey Grybowski Vineyard Wind, Rachel Pachter Virginia League of Conservation Voters, Michael Town WE ACT for Environmental Justice, Peggy Shepard Western New York Climate Reality Chapter, Lynn Saxton Windstar, Chris Niezrecki Wildlife Conservation Society, John Calvelli WinWithWind, Jeremiah Mulligan 350 Cape Cod, Sheila Place 350 Mass, Carolyn Barthel 350 New Orleans, Andy Kowalczyk “Last week the Biden Administration signaled its strong commitment for offshore wind energy and more than one hundred organizations representing a broad and diverse spectrum of developers, labor unions, frontline environmental justice groups, research organizations and environmental non-profits reacted in unison to the responsible development of

Off the coast of New Jersey these days, surveillance vessels hired by European energy companies are taking measurements of the ocean depths, and underwater research drones are analyzing water temperatures to accumulate data on the Mid-Atlantic “Cold Pool.” Onshore in places like the Port of Paulsboro along the Delaware River south of Camden and Philadelphia, labor unions, port officials and politicians are angling for new marine terminals to build and ship off massive steel monopiles. And in weekly board meetings, state-appointed officials in charge of the Garden State’s public utilities are discussing massive overhauls to the power grid and many miles of new transmission lines. Billions of dollars will be invested in the next several years — at sea and on land — to erect hundreds of wind turbines miles from the coast in order to bring New Jersey 7,500 megawatts of renewable energy. That’s enough to power half of the state’s 1.5 million homes. Eight other states along the Eastern Seaboard of the United States have embarked on similar endeavors, preparing for the arrival of a new era in American energy. “Wind energy is going to be real. It’s just a question of how much,” EnvironmentNJ executive director Doug O’Malley said. “Flooding down the shore is real. Our number one priority is how our coastal communities are going to be a generation from now. Who knows if we’re here in 2050? We need to study this as much as possible, but also understand we need to look at the full picture of climate change.” Full article at NBC Philadelphia

The Biden administration is betting that green energy produced by new offshore wind farms will help slow climate change, but fishers and some scientists say there are too many uncertainties about how the massive structures will affect the ocean and its marine life. The first big test of how the push for wind energy might clash with ocean conservation will likely play out in Massachusetts waters. This week, Department of the Interior officials gave initial approval to the $2.8 billion Vineyard Wind project located about 15 miles south of the island of Martha’s Vineyard. Once the massive wind turbines begin operating in 2023, the wind farm is expected to generate 800 megawatts of clean electricity. That’s enough to power 400,000 Massachusetts homes and businesses. Vineyard Wind will be the first big offshore wind farm on the East Coast, although smaller pilot projects are running off Block Island, Rhode Island, and Virginia Beach, Virginia. Officials at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, an office within the Department of the Interior, are reviewing another 12 commercial offshore wind projects between Maryland and Maine. If approved, those wind farms would generate 25 gigawatts of clean energy for the power-hungry Northeast, more than doubling all land-based wind power coming online in 2021. It hasn’t all been smooth sailing for wind farms. When WIRED last covered this project, in 2019, it was expected to be completed by 2021. But the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management delayed the project’s approval to review the cumulative impact of US offshore wind farms, while the company itself pulled its application to choose a different kind of turbine. Once that application was resubmitted earlier this year, the bureau approved the final environmental impact statement in several weeks. The renewed push for offshore wind power is part of a Biden administration executive order issued in January to halt new oil and gas leases on federal lands and offshore waters and replace them with clean energy. Nearly one quarter of all US greenhouse gas emissions come from oil and gas wells on federal leases, and the White House sees a big potential to cut those planet-warming emissions with offshore wind projects. But the project has gotten pushback from both environmental groups and local fishers, who say they won’t be able to navigate their boats around the 700-foot tall towers or dredge the seafloor for valuable scallops and surf clams without getting tangled in power cables. The cables are “an obstruction and a safety hazard, and they will block fishing access,” says Annie Hawkins, director of the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, an advocacy group representing the Northeast and New England commercial fishing industry. “The cables take up more space than the turbines and create more risks than the turbines themselves.” Hawkins says her group has been pushing federal regulators to force Vineyard Wind to make wider sea lanes through the wind farm, so fishing boats would have more room to operate. The current plan has the turbines spaced a mile apart. As part of the overall Department of the Interior environmental review of Vineyard Wind’s application, the US Coast Guard did not approve the idea of broader 4-mile lanes over concerns it could lead to crowding on the seas. During the decade the project has been under development, Vineyard Wind has shrunk its proposed footprint. Initially, the firm planned to use 100 turbines producing 8 megawatts each. But the technology has improved and turbines have grown bigger and more powerful. Earlier this year, Vineyard Wind switched to GE’s new Halaide-X 13-megawatt turbine, reducing the overall number called for in its plan to 62 turbines, according to company spokesman Andrew Doba. While the engineering problems of such a large project may seem daunting, trying to figure out what will happen to the surrounding ocean and its denizens is a bit murkier. The Northeast waters are fed by the powerful Gulf Stream current, which brings warm water and tropical species from the south, as well as swirling eddies and a bottom layer of colder water that protects many commercially valuable seafood species. While scientists can use computer models to predict how wind farms might interact with currents, tides, and other ocean circulation patterns, it’s much tougher to come up with real-world examples. The UK, Netherlands, Germany, and several Scandinavian countries have been building offshore platforms for the past 20 years, but the ocean circulation patterns in the North Sea, English Channel, and Baltic Sea are more influenced by up-and-down tidal currents than the Northeast US. On the other hand, the Northeast is more affected by the Gulf Stream current and big storms like hurricanes and nor’easters that churn up the water below. Travis Miles, assistant professor of coastal and marine sciences at Rutgers University, says more ocean-based observations are needed to figure out how a wind farm might change circulation patterns—and those effects might vary along the Eastern seaboard. “The potential impacts might be different from New Jersey to Massachusetts,” he says. Miles and colleagues at Rutgers recently reviewed existing scientific literature on the biological and physical changes that might occur with offshore wind development to a undersea phenomena called the “cold pool,” a blob of cool water that sits on the ocean floor during the summer months and acts as a refuge for scallops, clams, and bottom-dwelling fish like flounder, monkfish, and sea bass. These organisms rely on the cold pool to protect themselves from the warm surface waters heated by the summer sun. There is some speculation that the currents flowing around wind farms could turn into a giant eggbeater, mixing warm surface water into the cold pool, but that hasn’t been shown in any direct field observations, Miles says. “If you put structures out there, there is potential for mixing,” Miles says. “One of our research questions is, does an array of structures have the potential to increase ocean mixing? We don’t know the answer to that.” Another unknown is whether turbine blades will slow down the winds that blow across

The Biden administration is betting that green energy produced by new offshore wind farms will help slow climate change, but fishers and some scientists say there are too many uncertainties about how the massive structures will affect the ocean and its marine life. The first big test of how the push for wind energy might clash with ocean conservation will likely play out in Massachusetts waters. This week, Department of the Interior officials gave initial approval to the $2.8 billion Vineyard Wind project located about 15 miles south of the island of Martha’s Vineyard. Once the massive wind turbines begin operating in 2023, the wind farm is expected to generate 800 megawatts of clean electricity. That’s enough to power 400,000 Massachusetts homes and businesses. Vineyard Wind will be the first big offshore wind farm on the East Coast, although smaller pilot projects are running off Block Island, Rhode Island, and Virginia Beach, Virginia. Officials at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, an office within the Department of the Interior, are reviewing another 12 commercial offshore wind projects between Maryland and Maine. If approved, those wind farms would generate 25 gigawatts of clean energy for the power-hungry Northeast, more than doubling all land-based wind power coming online in 2021. It hasn’t all been smooth sailing for wind farms. When WIRED last covered this project, in 2019, it was expected to be completed by 2021. But the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management delayed the project’s approval to review the cumulative impact of US offshore wind farms, while the company itself pulled its application to choose a different kind of turbine. Once that application was resubmitted earlier this year, the bureau approved the final environmental impact statement in several weeks. The renewed push for offshore wind power is part of a Biden administration executive order issued in January to halt new oil and gas leases on federal lands and offshore waters and replace them with clean energy. Nearly one quarter of all US greenhouse gas emissions come from oil and gas wells on federal leases, and the White House sees a big potential to cut those planet-warming emissions with offshore wind projects. But the project has gotten pushback from both environmental groups and local fishers, who say they won’t be able to navigate their boats around the 700-foot tall towers or dredge the seafloor for valuable scallops and surf clams without getting tangled in power cables. The cables are “an obstruction and a safety hazard, and they will block fishing access,” says Annie Hawkins, director of the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, an advocacy group representing the Northeast and New England commercial fishing industry. “The cables take up more space than the turbines and create more risks than the turbines themselves.” Hawkins says her group has been pushing federal regulators to force Vineyard Wind to make wider sea lanes through the wind farm, so fishing boats would have more room to operate. The current plan has the turbines spaced a mile apart. As part of the overall Department of the Interior environmental review of Vineyard Wind’s application, the US Coast Guard did not approve the idea of broader 4-mile lanes over concerns it could lead to crowding on the seas. During the decade the project has been under development, Vineyard Wind has shrunk its proposed footprint. Initially, the firm planned to use 100 turbines producing 8 megawatts each. But the technology has improved and turbines have grown bigger and more powerful. Earlier this year, Vineyard Wind switched to GE’s new Halaide-X 13-megawatt turbine, reducing the overall number called for in its plan to 62 turbines, according to company spokesman Andrew Doba. While the engineering problems of such a large project may seem daunting, trying to figure out what will happen to the surrounding ocean and its denizens is a bit murkier. The Northeast waters are fed by the powerful Gulf Stream current, which brings warm water and tropical species from the south, as well as swirling eddies and a bottom layer of colder water that protects many commercially valuable seafood species. While scientists can use computer models to predict how wind farms might interact with currents, tides, and other ocean circulation patterns, it’s much tougher to come up with real-world examples. The UK, Netherlands, Germany, and several Scandinavian countries have been building offshore platforms for the past 20 years, but the ocean circulation patterns in the North Sea, English Channel, and Baltic Sea are more influenced by up-and-down tidal currents than the Northeast US. On the other hand, the Northeast is more affected by the Gulf Stream current and big storms like hurricanes and nor’easters that churn up the water below. Travis Miles, assistant professor of coastal and marine sciences at Rutgers University, says more ocean-based observations are needed to figure out how a wind farm might change circulation patterns—and those effects might vary along the Eastern seaboard. “The potential impacts might be different from New Jersey to Massachusetts,” he says. Miles and colleagues at Rutgers recently reviewed existing scientific literature on the biological and physical changes that might occur with offshore wind development to a undersea phenomena called the “cold pool,” a blob of cool water that sits on the ocean floor during the summer months and acts as a refuge for scallops, clams, and bottom-dwelling fish like flounder, monkfish, and sea bass. These organisms rely on the cold pool to protect themselves from the warm surface waters heated by the summer sun. There is some speculation that the currents flowing around wind farms could turn into a giant eggbeater, mixing warm surface water into the cold pool, but that hasn’t been shown in any direct field observations, Miles says. “If you put structures out there, there is potential for mixing,” Miles says. “One of our research questions is, does an array of structures have the potential to increase ocean mixing? We don’t know the answer to that.” Another unknown is whether turbine blades will slow down the winds that blow across

On Thursday, January 28, RUCOOL co-hosted (with Rutgers Cooperative Extension) its 2021 Partners in Science Workshop: Identifying Ecological Metrics and Sampling Strategies for Baseline Monitoring During Offshore Wind Development. The workshop, sponsored by the NJ Board of Public Utilities, virtually brought together over 80 individuals representing federal and state agencies, the commercial and recreational fishing industries, the offshore wind industry, environmental groups, and academics throughout the region. It aimed at serving as a follow up to the 2019 workshop on the Mid-Atlantic Bight Cold Pool, by advancing the vital discussion of how best to conduct baseline and continuous monitoring studies of the environment (physical, chemical, and biological) as offshore wind is developed along the U.S. East Coast. Stay tuned for a complete report on the workshop in the coming weeks! In the meantime, feel free to review the Final Report from the 2019 workshop, along with the agenda from this year’s workshop.   photo is “Courtesy of Deepwater Wind”

A decade of research has shown that numerical weather prediction (NWP)-modeled wind speeds can be highly sensitive to the inputs and setups within the NWP model. For wind resource characterization applications, this sensitivity is often addressed by constructing a range of setups and selecting the one that best validates against observations. However, this approach is not possible in areas that lack high-quality hub height observations, especially offshore wind areas. In such cases, techniques to quantify and disseminate confidence in NWP-modeled wind speeds in the absence of observations are needed. This study used an ensemble modeling approach with 24 setups of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to better estimate wind variability, and quantify the role of various modeling components (such as atmospheric input forcing and sea surface temperature input) to the overall ensemble variability. The full study is available via open access through Wiley.