Court Keeps GE on Vineyard Wind, France Plans Huge Wind Farm

Allen covers GE Vernova ordered to stay on Vineyard Wind, TotalEnergies filing for France&#8217;s largest renewable project, Spain&#8217;s repowering grants, and Dajin&#8217;s Hong Kong stock debut. Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly newsletter on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard&#8217;s StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on YouTube, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary&#8217;s &#8220;Engineering with Rosie&#8221; YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us! Good Monday. Wind energy made news this week from Boston courtrooms&#8230; to the coast of Normandy &#8230; to the stock exchange floors of Hong Kong. Let us start in Massachusetts. A Boston judge has once again told GE VERNOVA it cannot walk away from VINEYARD WIND. To understand why GE VERNOVA wants out&#8230; you&#160;have to&#160;look at the money. VINEYARD WIND owes GE VERNOVA three hundred and sixty million dollars on a one-point-two-billion-dollar turbine supply contract. VINEYARD WIND is withholding that payment. GE VERNOVA says it has the contractual right to walk when it is not paid. In February, they sent VINEYARD WIND a termination notice. VINEYARD WIND sued. In April, Judge PETER KRUPP issued an injunction ordering GE to stay. GE VERNOVA came back and asked&#160;the judge&#160;to reconsider. Vernova&#160;pointed to statements from state officials and VINEYARD WIND&#8217;s own parent&#160;company&#160;describing the eight-hundred-and-six-megawatt project as essentially complete. If the project is done, GE argued, there is no harm in letting us leave. Judge KRUPP did not buy it. Here is why this matters so much to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. VINEYARD WIND is the largest offshore wind project in New England. It is owned jointly by Spain&#8217;s IBERDROLA and Denmark&#8217;s COPENHAGEN INFRASTRUCTURE PARTNERS. It began initial operations just this past February&#8230; after the developer won a separate court fight to keep federal construction permits intact. Sixty-two turbines. A four-point-five-billion-dollar investment. The anchor project for offshore wind in the entire region. The judge found that GE VERNOVA&#8217;s proprietary expertise is still needed to bring those turbines to full operational capacity. Pull GE&#8217;s more than two hundred employees and subcontractors off the job&#8230; and the project&#8217;s financing structure could collapse. Massachusetts Governor MAURA HEALEY has weighed in publicly. The state has too much riding on this project to let it unravel in court. GE VERNOVA still has its appeal of the April injunction pending. But for now&#8230; the turbines keep turning. Now let us cross the Atlantic. Off the coast of Normandy, France&#8230; TOTALENERGIES has filed for government authorization of a massive offshore wind farm called CENTRE MANCHE ENERGIES.</p