Equinor US Wind president Siri Espedal Kindem (pictured) has called on the Department of Interior to issue notices of intent (NoIs) to clear the way for developers to prepare environmental impact statements for leased offshore wind projects.
In evidence to the US Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, she said: “There are many projects in the queue awaiting BOEM’s issuance to begin the environmental review and public comment period.
“By moving forward with NoIs, certainty will be provided not only to the developers, but the market will see forward progress leading to investments in the supply chain as well.”
Kindem also called for an offshore wind auction schedule as the market has matured, with development gaining momentum and attracting significant capital.
She added: “To continue the orderly and expeditious development of OCS wind resources, developers and other participants in the offshore wind sector need more certainty around future leasing.
“Consequently, we urge BOEM, working in consultation with state partners, to develop an offshore wind leasing schedule.
“Doing so will provide better information for planning and prioritizing investments, and it would be another step in demonstrating the Department’s commitment to offshore wind.”
Speaking about the Investment Tax Credit Kindem also called on Congress to provide an option to satisfy the continuity requirement by meeting “continuous efforts” and extend the Continuity Safe Harbor deadline for the “start of construction” to seven years.
She said that making these changes would allow taxpayers to demonstrate that a business may show either continuous efforts or continuous construction, regardless of how construction started, for purposes of meeting the continuity requirement.
It would also allow continuous efforts for projects in any start year regardless of whether a project started under the physical work test or the five percent test.
Se said: “This will ease the administrative burden for both IRS and taxpayers if continuous efforts, rather than continuous construction, is applied.
“Along with these efforts, Equinor supports an extension of the ITC for offshore wind projects beyond the end of 2020 expiration.”