The winds of energy change are facing a ship-sized obstacle

In recent years, energy companies have gone with the wind, investing tens of billions of dollars towards creating hundreds of wind turbines the size of skyscrapers and then plopping them in the Atlantic Ocean from Maine to Virginia.

But many of these projects are running behind schedule and over budget, as companies are finding it more difficult than expected to place their turbines in the ocean.

The main culprit is a lack of custom installation ships, which are the only way to erect the 600-foot turbines. There are just 34 such vessels in operation outside of China, allowing shipowners to charge up to $350,000/day.

Danish wind giant Ørsted set out to solve the shortage in 2021 by launching construction on a brand-new US turbine installation ship. But supply-chain issues later forced a year-long delay, leaving two major wind projects in New York scrambling for limited backup options.

• Ørsted also canceled two other offshore wind projects in New Jersey last month – taking a combined $5.6 billion impairment – largely because the company couldn’t find an installation ship.

🌬️💡 Zoom out: Eastern US states have awarded contracts to build two dozen offshore wind farms that can produce a combined 21 gigawatts of electric capacity by 2030 – on paper, at least. In reality, energy developers have canceled or asked to renegotiate rates for nearly half that capacity, causing analysts to downgrade expectations to 15 gigawatts by decade’s end (or enough to power 4+ million homes).