Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed legislation on Wednesday eliminating nearly all mentions of climate change in Florida law and doing away with the need for the state to take it into account when developing energy policy.
The law also prohibits the development of offshore wind facilities within a mile of the state’s coastline. It was passed by the state Legislature in March and goes into effect in July.
Offshore wind turbines are prohibited in Florida waters.
“Florida rejects the designs of the left to weaken our energy grid, pursue a radical climate agenda, and promote foreign adversaries,” DeSantis said in a post on the X social media platform.
Read: Biden’s Signature Climate Law Is Falling Short On Its Goal To Boost American Manufacturing
“The legislation I signed today—HB 1645, HB 7071, and HB 1331—will keep windmills off our beaches, gas in our tanks, and China out of our state. We’re restoring sanity in our approach to energy and rejecting the agenda of the radical green zealots. Furthermore, we’re going to ensure foreign adversaries like China have no foothold in our state,” said DeSantis.
The Florida House voted 81-29 to pass the bill (HB 1645), which was approved by the Senate in March by a 28-12 vote.
The bill drew little discussion, but House sponsor Bobby Payne, R-Palatka, said in March that large-scale wind energy is not viable in Florida. Also, Senate sponsor Jay Collins, R-Tampa, has said the proposed wind-energy ban is designed to help protect wildlife and ecosystems and to prevent noise.
But some Democrats questioned imposing a ban.
Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando acknowledged that wind energy is not currently viable in the state, but she said “technologies evolve, technologies change.”
The bill also revises parts of state law to eliminate references to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.
For example, it eliminated part of the previous law that says, “The Legislature finds that the state’s energy security can be increased by lessening dependence on foreign oil; that the impacts of global climate change can be reduced through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions; and that the implementation of alternative energy technologies can be a source of new jobs and employment opportunities for many Floridians.”
Replaced, in part, by sentences that say, “The purpose of the state’s energy policy is to ensure an adequate, reliable, and cost-effective supply of energy for the state in a manner that promotes the health and welfare of the public and economic growth. The Legislature intends that governance of the state’s energy policy be efficiently directed toward achieving this purpose.”
Payne and Collins have cited a need to maintain stability in electric generation.
“Our goal is to look out for the future of Florida and say what is cost-efficient, what’s reliable,” Payne said last week. “Renewables are not always reliable and what is the best for security in the state.”Critics pointed to issues such as flooding caused by the rise in sea levels.
“I’m not sure how it became political to care about our environment,” Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton, said during a Senate committee meeting last month. “Florida is ground zero for climate disasters. We are surrounded by water, and the effects are showing.”
However, in 2021, DeSantis signed into law Senate Bill 1954.
This legislation ensures a coordinated approach to Florida’s coastal and inland resiliency. The new program enhances efforts to protect our inland waterways, coastlines, shores, and coral reefs, which serve as invaluable natural defenses against sea level rise.
The bill included $640 million to support efforts to ensure state and local communities are prepared to deal with the impacts of sea level rise, intensified storms, and flooding.
- $12.5 million for the Resilient Coastlines Initiative for resilience projects and coral reef protection.
- $29 million for establishment and planning efforts of the Resilient Florida Grant Program.
- $500 million in federal funding for implementation of statewide resilience projects through the Statewide Flooding and Sea Level Rise Resilience Plan.
- $100 million for Resilient Florida Grant Program projects in partnership with local communities, beginning in 2022.
“When Governor DeSantis and I were elected in 2018, we made protecting Florida’s environment one of the top priorities of our administration,” Lt. Governor Jeanette Nuñez said in May of 2021. I applaud the Legislature for unanimously voting to protect our coastal communities and waterways from the threats of storm surge and tidal flooding. As Floridians, we have a solemn responsibility to protect our natural treasures. Today, we put Floridians first. We are proud of our efforts to mitigate the effects of flooding and sea level rise for future generations to come.”
“Sea level rise and climate change are global problems with real consequences for Floridians,” said Dr. Tom Frazer, dean of the University of South Florida’s College of Marine Science and former chief science officer in 2021. “Mitigation and adaptation will be essential moving forward. This important piece of legislation provides the resources needed for comprehensive planning across the state to address the increasing challenges associated with flooding due to tides, storm surge and changes in rainfall patterns. I am extremely pleased to see it move forward and applaud the Governor for his leadership.”
New Study Highlights Another Potential Roadblock For Offshore Wind Push
A new study has identified a potentially massive problem for offshore wind developments that could further hinder the Biden administration’s push for the technology.
The study, published in a scientific journal called Wind Energy Science and authored by researchers from the University of Colorado and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), focuses on what happens when the presence of nearby wind turbines reduces wind speeds for other turbines and their ability to produce power.
The researchers project that the “wake effect,” the technical name for the phenomenon, could lead to a loss of up to 38% of power generation at one East Coast offshore wind development.
Read: Biden Admin Rolls Out Lease For Offshore Wind In Texas Gulf Despite Potential Hurricane Risks
The Biden administration has big hopes for the offshore wind industry, with a stated goal of having the technology provide enough electricity to power ten million American homes by 2030. Despite the availability of generous government subsidies, that goal looks to be out of reach, according to Reuters, as inflation, high borrowing costs, logistical problems, and supply chain woes have taken their toll on developers.
The study found that the “wake effect” is typically most pronounced within individual wind farms, but some summer weather conditions could allow reductions in wind speeds caused by turbines to reach as far as 55 kilometers downwind. In some cases, one development’s “wake effect” could cause a reduction of up to 15% in other farms’ output, the study found.
“Unfortunately, summer is when there’s a lot of electrical demand,” Dave Rosencrans, a doctoral student at the University of Colorado who worked on the study, told CU Boulder Today. “We showed that wakes are going to have a significant impact on power generation. But if we can predict their effects and anticipate when they are going to happen, then we can manage them on the electrical grid.”
Read: New Jersey Doubles Down On Offshore Wind After 2023’s Massive Failure
The possibility for weaker output in the summer months could be an issue given that power demand typically peaks on the hottest stretches of the year, a point that the study’s authors acknowledge.
“Reduced power production during summer may be problematic as New England’s top-10 utility demand days since 1997 have all occurred in July or August,” they wrote in the study.
The study’s findings may undermine some existing assumptions about how effective and efficient the technology is, according to E&E News.
“It’s a wake-up call for the industry,” Mike Optis, president of Veer Renewables and one of the study’s authors, told E&E News. “Wake effects can drastically impact offshore wind power production, certainly more than we thought.”
Despite the ambitious projections set out by some policymakers, market analysts, and media outlets, the industry has not rebounded much in 2024 after enduring a rough year in 2023.
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Numerous developers canceled projects or attempted to renegotiate key contracts in 2023 as financial and logistical issues ate into their projects’ profitability, and several developments have been effectively canceled or postponed so far in 2024.
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