Bitter Ridge has been developed by Scout and will be owned and operated long-term by Scout’s dedicated asset management team. Scout is a portfolio company of Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, a specialist investment manager focused exclusively on lower carbon and renewable energy infrastructure investment and operational asset management in the US, UK and Australia.

“Bitter Ridge is Scout’s second project to close construction financing this year and follows the recent successful closing of our Heart of Texas project and the commencement of operations at Ranchero. We anticipate that Bitter Ridge will be fully operational by September of next year,” said Michael Rucker, CEO and founder of Scout. “Bitter Ridge is also the second greenfield project that the Scout team has developed from inception and it will support up to 200 jobs during construction and as many as five permanent jobs once operational. Bitter Ridge brings Scout’s operational and in construction wind portfolio to over 900 MW. This is quite an achievement by the combined Quinbrook and Scout teams considering that we kicked off the program together less than three years ago.”

Construction on Bitter Ridge, which is located on approximately 10,000 acres in Jay County, is underway, with turbine foundations complete ahead of the winter season. The project will utilize 52 of the latest generation General Electric 2-MW platform wind turbines. Scout has signed firm purchase orders for the supply of the wind turbines with GE and has entered into a balance of plant construction services agreement with Mortenson.

As previously announced by Scout earlier this year, a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) has been signed with Constellation, an Exelon company for the long-term purchase of approximately 80% of the renewable energy and capacity generated by Bitter Ridge.

“Supported by a long term PPA with Constellation, construction is already well advanced and the overall project execution has been moving quickly,” added Rucker. “We are excited to have Bitter Ridge interconnected to the PJM independent system operator from where it can serve renewable energy demand throughout PJM’s footprint.”

Scout estimates that Jay County will receive over $18 million in tax revenue from Bitter Ridge over the operating life of the project, with over half going to directly support local schools in Jay County. Additionally, Jay County will receive $1.56 million in economic development payments made by Bitter Ridge for the benefit of several local community initiatives.

KeyBanc Capital Markets acted as Coordinating Lead Arranger, Joint Lead Arranger, Sole Bookrunner and Administrative Agent with CoBank, ACB and Rabobank acting as Joint Lead Arrangers for the $210 million construction financing (including letters of credit) of Bitter Ridge. GE Energy Financial Services has underwritten and will commit a portion of the tax equity financing.

News item from Scout Clean Energy

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For more information on the programs, including individual project funding amounts and eligibility, click here. The application deadline is October 1, 2019

The Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) is launching two offshore wind grants for 2020.

The allotted funds will support:

1. the Maryland Offshore Wind Capex program with $1.6 million dollars

2. Maryland Offshore Wind Workforce Training Program with $1.2 million dollars

The Maryland Offshore Wind Workforce Training program provides grant funding on a competitive basis to support Maryland’s workforce entering the offshore wind industry. Both new and existing workforce development training centers, focused on offshore wind industry can apply.

Training centers must provide the education of a technical trade skills and safety standards used for the development, construction, and O&M  phases of an offshore wind project. In addition, the training center must provide technical and safety training at no cost to all participating students.

Applicants must provide an outreach plan to prospective students from historically under-served communities, including but not limited to minorities, women, and veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces. Additionally, applicants must demonstrate how project proposals will benefit Maryland’s emerging businesses, including minority-owned emerging businesses.

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Vattenfall’s two 1.5-GW projects off the shore of the Netherlands will be the first two unsubsidized offshore wind farms globally.

This project follows Hollandse Kust Zuid (HKZ) 1 & 2 and, together, represent the first two unsubsidized offshore wind farms globally, says GlobalData, a data and analytics company. The wind farms will have a combined capacity of nearly 1.5 GW.

The subsidy-free auction in the Netherlands is expected to make coal-based power plants unviable, leading to their closure far earlier than the official ban on them begins in 2030.

The closure of these plants should lead to an increase in wholesale prices in the Netherlands, making the operation of the wind-power projects profitable even without the aid of subsidies.

“Under the zero subsidy mechanism, the power generated from the offshore wind farm will be sold in the wholesale market instead of a continuous revenue scheme which locks in a fixed income,” explained Mohit Prasad, Project Manager with GlobalData.

The cost of offshore wind in Europe has been falling and further decline is expected. Some of the leading offshore wind markets in Europe are expected to see a fall in their average project cost. According to GlobalData, the UK, which has the maximum offshore wind installation in Europe had an average project cost for an offshore wind farm at $5,152 per kW in 2018. This is expected to decline to $4,787 per kW by 2025.

During the same time period the average project cost for an offshore wind farm in Germany is expected to decline from $4,268 per kW to $3,989 per kW. The Netherlands is expected to witness a much steeper fall with project cost declining from $5,700 per kW in 2018 to $4,250 per kW at the end of 2025. The decrease in project cost is estimated based on the price of wind turbine components and the construction of larger, more efficient turbines.

“In the future we can expect to see more developers striving for the zero subsidy mechanism,” said Prasad.

For example, The Netherlands was inspired by a similar auction in Germany in April 2017. However, the two auctions were different in regards to timescale; in the former case the developers have until 2024 to start construction, whereas the Dutch developers will have to deliver the projects two years earlier.

“The developers in Germany banked on the possibility that turbine capacities would have increased sufficiently to help them reduce generation costs,” he added. “They are still hopeful for the project due to the proposed introduction of a carbon fee system by the Government on emissions in 2020, at EUR18/metric ton of CO₂, which will rise to EUR35/metric ton in 2030.”

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