Orsted has announced that construction start dates for four of its US offshore projects will be put back a year due to federal permitting delays.
The Danish developer revealed in its results announcement today that it still waiting for clarity concerning the federal permitting process for its projects on the east coast of the country.
Permitting has been held up after the US Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) ordered a supplementary EIS into the impact of offshore wind projects on the Outer Continental Shelf.
Orsted president and chief executive Henrik Poulsen said it had expected to receive the Notice of Intent (NOI) from BOEM for its advanced-stage development projects at this point in time.
Orsted now foresees clarity on the permitting timelines being pushed to late 2020 or even into 2021, which constitutes a significant delay.
Poulsen said: “Even assuming the permitting process starts moving within the first quarter next year, it appears highly likely that Revolution Wind, Ocean Wind, Skipjack and Sunrise Wind will be delayed beyond the previously expected 2023 and 2024 construction years.
“For all four projects we have some flexibility in the timeline, and we have been able to make good progress on some other project milestones in the meantime.
“However, until there is a clear timeline from BOEM we cannot re-baseline our construction schedules.
“With regards to South Fork we remain comfortable about our previously communicated timeline with COD in late 2023.”