On megaprojects ..

Eversource announced today it was cancelling three big offshore wind projects and taking a charge. After years of development.

The big problem here is that the approval, financing and building process spans more than one economic, energy price, or interest rate cycle. By the time they get close to building, the economics no longer work and the projects are cancelled. Nuclear faces this problem as well.

As long as this is true, we might as well forget about successfully completing any megaprojects in America that don't have direct congressional backing. If you can't build something in 3-5 years, odds are pretty good you never will. This is a much bigger problem than nimbyism, engineering or the supposed "difficulty" of working in a similar environment to an offshore oil rig.