Energy

Two major moves in the month of May 2019 have positioned Connecticut as an active participant in the fast-moving New England offshore wind industry.

Soil Machine Dynamics Ltd (SMD) have announced the delivery of an ultra-high powered, compact 2400hp Cable Burial Tractor (CBT2400) to Boskalis.

In preparation for US offshore wind project development and supply chain partnering, New Energy Update is inviting companies interested in offshore wind to attend the US Offshore Wind 2019 Conference and Supply Chain Exhibition (USOW19). The event offers an opportunity to network with executive speakers from Avangrid, Equinor, Vineyard Wind, Ørsted, Northland Power, EnBW, MHI Vestas, GE Renewables, BOEM, NYSERDA, MassCEC and many more.

On 22 May 2019, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan announced that he would let the state’s Clean Energy Jobs Act, passed overwhelmingly by both houses of the legislature, become law. The governor made the announcement in a letter to Senate President Thomas V. “Mike” Miller, indicating he will allow Senate Bill 516 — Clean Energy Jobs to take effect without his signature, expressing concerns.

One year after the successful 800MW solicitation won by Vineyard Wind, the State of Massachusetts administration and utilities are putting another 800MW offshore wind contract out to bid.

OceanBased Perpetual Energy, LLC has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Florida Atlantic University’s Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center (SNMREC) to assist the company to develop the world’s largest commercial ocean current energy project.

The €20-million flagship EU tidal energy project, Enabling Future Arrays in Tidal (EnFAIT), has reduced the cost of tidal energy by 15 percent and grown its supply chain from four to 14 EU countries.

Australia’s National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) has advised Equinor that it is unable to make a decision on their environment plan for proposed exploration drilling in the Great Australian Bight within the initial 30-day assessment period. The next decision point is now scheduled for 27 June 2019.

Royal Dutch Shell plc, through its subsidiary Shell Offshore Inc (Shell) announced on 23 May 2019 that production has started at the Shell-operated Appomattox production system months ahead of schedule, opening a new frontier in the deep-water U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

During an earnings call from Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras on 17 May 2019, their Chief Exploration & Production Executive Officer, Carlos Alberto Pereira de Oliveira stated that in spite of lower production during the first quarter of FY2019, his company would meet its target oil production forecast for 2019 at 2.8 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, a figure he says the company met in May.

Equinor has selected NKT as the turnkey supplier for the high-voltage cable project connecting the oil and gas platforms Gina Krog and Johan Sverdrup 2 in the North Sea. The order has a value of approx.

Prysmian Group, a world leader in the energy and telecom cable systems industry, has been awarded a contract worth approximately €200 million by Vineyard Wind, LLC, a US offshore wind development company 50% owned by funds of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and 50% by Avangrid Renewables (part of the Iberdrola Group), to provide a submarine power cable system which will deliver clean energy to the mainland power grid in the US.