Icebreaker and Aqua Ventus I Join the Big League

The US Department of Energy (DOE) will re-allocate around USD 80 million in funding, initially intended for projects off Oregon and Virginia, to support Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation’s (LEEDCo’s) 27MW Icebreaker and the University of Maine’s 12MW New England Aqua Ventus I which ”have demonstrated significant progress toward being successfully completed and producing power.”

The US Department of Energy has decided to pull the plug on further investments into Principle Power’s 30MW WindFloat Pacific project off Oregon and Dominion Virginia Power’s 12 MW VOWTAP project off Virginia due to the two projects not meeting the established development milestones.

The 25MW Atlantic City Windfarm developed by Fishermen’s Energy has remained the only project initially picked for Budget Period 2 as still eligible to potentially receive USD 40 million in funding. The project was granted a short-term extension that requires Fishermen’s Energy to secure a power offtake agreement before the end of 2016.

DOE’s Advanced Technology Demonstrations Program for Offshore Wind began in 2012 with the selection of seven projects to receive USD 4 million each in Budget Period 1 to complete preliminary engineering, design, site evaluation, and planning phases of their offshore wind demonstration projects.

In 2014, three of these projects—Dominion, Fishermen’s Energy, and Principle Power—were selected to proceed to Budget Period 2, with the Energy Department allocating an additional USD 6.7 million for each project to complete the final engineering design, permitting, installations, and operations and maintenance plans, and secure a power off-take agreement. In total, these projects have each received USD 10.7 million.

The Icebreaker and the New England Aqua Ventus I were at the time identified as alternate projects and would be eligible to enter the demonstration program if funding became available, either by Congress appropriating additional funding or due to the discontinuation of a demonstration project in the program.

DOE continued supporting these projects to help them continue to advance their designs and address technical shortcomings. Each alternate project received USD 3 million in funding in 2014. The department has also committed to provide USD 3.7 million in additional funding in 2016 to each, bringing them up to USD 10.7 million total since 2012.

In May 2016, DOE evaluated the full portfolio against established milestones to determine whether any of the three demonstration projects—Dominion, Fishermen’s Energy, or Principle Power—should continue as part of the Offshore Wind Advanced Technology Demonstration program, and whether either or both of the alternates—the University of Maine or LEEDCo—should be onboarded into the demonstration program.

Through this evaluation, DOE decided that the Atlantic City Windfarm, the Icebreaker, and the Aqua Ventus I have demonstrated significant progress toward being successfully completed and producing power. DOE is continuing to support these projects by fully onboarding the University of Maine and LEEDCo projects into the demonstration program.

If all Budget Period 2 criteria are completed, these three projects will each be eligible to receive an additional USD 13.3 million for each subsequent performance periods 3–5, bringing the per-project total for all 5 performance periods up to approximately USD 50 million, with a go/no-go project review occurring between each performance period.