On Thursday, October 4, the Maine Public Utilities Commission (“PUC”) unanimously voted to table action on Statoil North America’s proposal to moor four floating wind turbines off the coast of Maine. Statoil North America, a division of Norway’s Statoil ASA, proposed the 12-megawatt pilot project in response to the PUC’s September 2010 request for proposals
David Hattery
200 Million Reasons Why Waivers of Subrogation Matter
When negotiating contracts with a client, sometimes their eyes roll when we come to the section on insurance, particularly that awkward phrase, “waiver of subrogation.” What is subrogation and what does it mean to waive it? Simply put, subrogation is the right of a party, typically an insurance company, to pay a loss then sue the party…
Landmark EPA Clean Air Act Settlement with TVA
On April 14, 2011, the EPA announced the settlement of a twelve year dispute with Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) over Clean Air Act violations. In the settlement, TVA agrees to permanently retire 2,700 MW of coal power from Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee and invest an estimated $3 to $5 billion on new and upgraded state-of-the-art pollution…
NRG Bluewater Wind Signs Non-Competitive Agreement for Delaware Offshore Wind
NRG Bluewater Wind won the exclusive rights to negotiate with the federal government to build an offshore wind farm off the Delaware coast on March 24, 2011. As the first developer to enter into the “Smart from the Start” program released by the BOEMRE on February 7, 2011, NRG Bluewater Wind signed a non-competitive lease agreement…
New Jersey Adopts Rules for Offshore Wind Energy Approval
In a long-awaited announcement, last week the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities adopted rules to codify the State’s Offshore Wind Economic Development Act. The new rules provide the process for an applicant to submit project information and to propose a pricing method and structure for Offshore Renewable Energy Credits (ORECs) for the Board’s…
GE Energy Acquires Wind Tower Systems
On Friday, GE Energy announced the acquisition of new tower construction and erection technology from Utah based Wind Tower Systems, LLC. Wind Tower Systems has developed a space frame tower design to accommodate tower heights of over 100 meters that can be installed without the use of heavy lift cranes during construction.
“We see great…
National Offshore Wind Strategy Announced
On Monday February 7, 2011, the DOE issued an ambitious plan to spur development of offshore wind facilities in federal and state waters off the eastern seaboard. The report identifies the key challenges to widespread development are reducing both the cost and the timeline of project development. It estimates that the current cost of offshore…