TommyWonk on WDEL this Evening

Allan Loudell and I will be chatting about wind power this evening on WDEL, 1150 AM, at either 5:25 or 5:35 this evening. We will discuss the latest news on the regulatory front and, if time allows, the development of a supply chain to build wind power projects up and down the east coast.

The News Journal and Cape Gazette both ran stories over the weekend on the how delays are making it harder for NRG Bluewater Wind to stay on schedule. The permitting process for NRG Bluewater Wind was already in danger of lagging before the Minerals Management Service reorganized as the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement. The delay has nothing to do with the merits of the NRG Bluewater proposal, but with the challenge of getting a bureaucracy to figure out how to deal with something it hasn't seen before, particularly when they are still moving their furniture around.

The other big challenge for the offshore wind industry is creating a supply chain to support the construction of wind farms from Virginia to Maine. Already, about 2 gigawatts of capacity is in the pipeline. A provision in SS 1 to SB 119 could help steer some of that supply chain to Delaware by providing incentives for in-state labor and manufacture for solar and wind energy.