A wind energy developer owned by France's TotalEnergies and a unit of Macquarie said on Monday it is bidding to build a wind farm off New Jersey's coast, expressing confidence in the sector after a series of U.S. setbacks.
Spinning power from coastal wind turbines is central to President Joe Biden's plan to decarbonise the U.S. economy by 2050, but his installation targets are slipping out of reach due to soaring costs, high interest rates and supply chain delays.
Bucking that trend, developer Attentive Energy has now proposed to build a site with up to 1.34 gigawatts (GW), capable of powering more than 600,000 homes.
Corio Generation, a dedicated offshore wind developer owned by the green investment unit of Australian conglomerate Macquarie, joined TotalEnergies in Attentive Energy last month.
"We are confident in the long-term outlook and fundamentals for U.S. offshore wind," said Corio Generation Chief Executive Jonathan Cole.
Attentive Energy Managing Director Damian Bednarz said he expected to put the "multi-billion dollar project" into operation in the early 2030s if the bid is successful.
Offshore wind was always capital intensive, but costs have leapt in recent months, and developers are now looking at spending up to $4.2 million per megawatt, implying a site this size could cost as much as $5.6 billion, according to renewable energy researchers at the Brinckmann Group.
Other major developers have painted a gloomy picture recently. Global leader Orsted said it might abandon U.S. projects, while Equinor, BP, Avangrid, and Shell, have all cancelled or tried to renegotiate contracts for the first commercial-scale U.S. wind farms.
(Reuters - Reporting by Isla Binnie; Editing by Sharon Singleton)