Biden says wind farms don’t cause cancer, but offshore industry faces headwinds

President Joe Biden has taken a swipe at his likely election rival Donald Trump, mocking the former president’s claims that wind farms, among other things, causes cancer.

Biden was cutting the ribbon for a ceremony marking the start of construction of the first US offshore wind subsea rock installation vessel, just one example of the estimated half-a-trillion dollar investment in manufacturing triggered by the Inflation Reduction Act.

“It will be the first vessel of its kind that’s made in America — American owned, American operated,” Biden said in a speech.

“And the rocks will come from American quarries, and it’ll be loaded at American ports. Steel for a vessel is being made by the United Steelworkers in Indiana.

“The engine will be made by the United States Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers in Pittsburgh. The crew is going to be American marin- — mariners from Seafarers International Union.

“The turbines themselves will be as tall as the buildings in Center City, Philadelphia. That’s how big they are. And the blades: 110 yards long. I went to see them being made in Colorado. It was breathtaking.

“And I might add, notwithstanding what the other guy said, windmills do not cause cancer.”

Biden’s administration is setting a target of 30GW of offshore wind by 2030 as part of its goal of having a grid producing nothing but clean energy by 2035.

He said more than $US16 billion has already been invested in new offshore wind investments, including 18 offshore wind vessels, 12 manufacturing facilities, and 13 ports.

Some projects, however, are facing problems. In the UK last week, Sweden based Vattenfall pulled its planned 1.4GW Boreas offshore wind project because it could no long build the project at the price it bid several years earlier – £37.35/MWh – thanks to soaring costs of key materials and labour.

““With new market conditions, it doesn’t make sense to continue,” the head of Vattenfall’s wind business Helene Bistrom, told analysts at a briefing last week. The Boreal project was bid at Stg47.

In the US, at least two offshore wind projects have been hit by similar problems. Avangrid, owned by Iberdrola, has said that its planned 1.2GW Commonwealth wind project can no longer be built and operated at the price it bid – $US72/MWh.

Mayflower Wind, a joint venture between Shell and Ocean Winds – has said the same thing about its 405MW project which was bid at $US75/MWh). Danish developer Orsted is taking a $US366 million on its 920MW Sunwise wind farm off Long Island because costs have risen way about the $US80/MWh it had bid.

All this of course, has implications for Australia, which is kicking off its push into offshore wind, and is currently considering its first tender just for the right to conduct feasibility studies in the country’s first offshore wind zone, in Gippsland, Victoria.

Many of the same players are jockeying for position in the Australian market, which expects to offer six offshore wind zones in coming years. They will be careful not to make the same mistake as they did overseas on bid pricing.