French oil major TotalEnergies has confirmed it has ended plans to pursue 3GW of floating offshore wind off the coast of Oregon with developer Simply Blue Group.
The pair had planned to develop three 1GW offshore wind farms off the coast of southern and central Oregon through their Deep Blue Pacific Wind joint venture.
However, a TotalEnergies spokesperson told “uåX˜äŠÊ˜·³Ç the oil major and Simply Blue Group had ended their partnership “following a shift in the parent companies’ global offshore wind strategies”.
They added: “The renewable energy sector, and in particular offshore wind, continues to evolve and holds tremendous potential for sustainable growth and helping the US meet its clean power goals.”
The spokesperson described floating wind power as a “less mature technology”, and added: “The current challenge consists of scaling up this technology to reduce costs.”
However, the spokesperson noted that TotalEnergies recently launched a pilot project to use floating wind to power an offshore oil and gas platform off the coast of Scotland.
“uåX˜äŠÊ˜·³Ç has contacted Simply Blue for comment.
The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is due to hold the first offshore wind lease auction for Oregon next month. Five development groups have been pre-qualified to bid in this auction – though TotalEnergies and Simply Blue’s Deep Blue Pacific Wind tie-up was notable for its absence from this shortlist.
.png)
.png)
