Orsted Delays 120-Megawatt Skipjack Offshore Wind Project

Skipjack Offshore Energy LLC revised the estimated commercial operating date for its 120-megawatt offshore wind project from November 2022 to the end of 2023, according to an April 21 filing with the Maryland Public Service Commission.

Orsted said it is receiving its federal notice of intent for the project later than expected as the “federal permitting timeline evolves.” The new target of the end of 2023 intends to put Orsted in a strong position to deliver a successful project. The project was proposed in response to Maryland’s Offshore Wind Act of 2013. Orsted reiterated its commitment to develop, build and operate the Skipjack project.

The offshore wind industry will likely face more delays, following the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s revisions to the permitting schedule of the 800-MW Vineyard Wind project in Massachusetts, the nation’s first large-scale project, raising concerns of regulatory roadblocks. Vineyard Wind recently announced that the $2.8 billion project will not be able to begin commercial operation in 2022, following federal regulators’ new permitting timeline that aims to issue a final decision on Dec. 18, a delay of more than a year compared to the original schedule’s August 2019 date.