Costs for US offshore wind projects are rising

Significance

It becomes the second company due to supply wind power to Massachusetts to attempt to end contracts signed with the state’s utilities, arguing that supplying wind-generated electricity was no longer economically feasible at the prices that had been agreed.

Impacts

• Supply-chain bottlenecks will increase calls for greater US production of the components specifically needed for offshore windfarms.
• Offshore windfarms can use three times the copper cabling of onshore ones, making them more vulnerable to expected rises in copper prices.
• Congress may consider efforts to streamline the permitting process for transmission lines from offshore windfarms.