Forbes Story: Is U.S Offshore Wind ‘Fundamentally Broken?’

POINT PLEASANT NEW JERSEY - FEBRUARY 19: Environmentalists gather during a 'Save the Whales' rally calling for a halt to offshore wind energy development along the Jersey Shore on February 19, 2023 in Point Pleasant New Jersey. The rally, hosted by the environmental organization Clean Ocean Action, followed the deaths of numerous whales, Since Dec. 1, 2022 according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA 12 whales have died in NY and NJ (Photo by Kena Betancur/VIEWpress)

The oil and gas industry and other minerals producers have complained for many years about the complexity and slow pace of obtaining permits for projects to develop their underground assets. Now, the offshore wind industry is joining the fray.

“There is a fundamental reset needed”

It was just one of several issues cited for the industry’s recent financial struggles, but seemingly intractable permitting issues were central to explanations offered for the industry’s rising financial struggles by developers of projects off the northeast Atlantic coast last week. Reuters reports that Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath, BP's head of gas and low carbon, described the industry as being “fundamentally broken” at an FT Energy Transition conference in London.

"Ultimately, offshore wind in the U.S. is fundamentally broken," Dotzenrath said. "There is a fundamental reset needed in the speed of permitting, security of permitting, etc..."

Dotzenrath’s comments came as BP said it would take a $540 million write-down on the value of its offshore wind developments in the United States. Norwegian oil company Equinor, BP’s partner in a pair of U.S. projects, announced its own impairment of $300 million.