The Bureau of Ocean Power Administration (BOEM) has issued an environmental evaluation (EA) for a possible wind lease sale within the Gulf of Maine, decreasing the world designation from about two million acres to almost a million acres.
The evaluation solely lined leasing and website evaluation actions comparable to conducting surveys and putting in meteorological buoys. Such actions “is not going to have a big impression on the setting”, the Inside Division sub-agency mentioned in a press release in regards to the EA outcomes.
The ultimate EA lined potential leases off the coasts of Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. A separate environmental overview on turbine installations will probably be performed if a leaseholder submits a undertaking proposal, the BOEM mentioned.
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Eight areas are deliberate to be auctioned for round 15 gigawatts (GW) of era, sufficient to energy over 5 million properties, the BOEM mentioned.
The EA now issued had thought of feedback from tribes and ocean customers. “We’re dedicated to making sure that future offshore wind growth proceeds in a fashion that reduces potential impacts on different ocean actions and the encompassing ecosystem”, mentioned BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein.
The BOEM introduced the wind space designation March 15. Positioned 23–92 miles off the coasts of three states, the preliminary space spanned roughly two million acres with potential era of 32 GW. That already represented an 80 % discount from the world recognized by the BOEM for potential leasing, in accordance with the bureau.
In different offshore wind developments, the BOEM introduced September 5 the approval of the two-GW Maryland Offshore Wind Challenge, elevating the full capability of federally authorized offshore wind energy initiatives in the USA to over 15 GW.
The Maryland undertaking by U.S. Wind Inc., majority-owned by Italy’s Renexia SPA, acquired a constructive Report of Determination. A Report of Determination is an preliminary approval. The undertaking nonetheless must receive approval for its growth plan.
The choice creates potential renewable energy for over 718,000 properties. In the meantime, throughout the U.S., authorized offshore wind initiatives now symbolize potential energy sufficient for five.25 million properties, in accordance with the BOEM.
On September 3 the BOEM issued a remaining sale discover for the first-ever wind lease sale offshore Oregon. The public sale affords two wind power areas overlaying a mixed 194,995 acres and providing a possible 3.1 GW of energy.
The Biden administration has up to now accomplished 5 offshore wind lease gross sales, together with for areas in New Jersey, New York, the Carolinas and the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico coasts.
On April 24 Inside Secretary Deb Haaland introduced a brand new five-year offshore wind leasing plan for the Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific and U.S. territories. 4 awards are deliberate for 2024, one every for 2025 and 2026, two for 2027 and 4 for 2028.
Within the newest lease awards Equinor ASA and Dominion Power Inc. gained two areas overlaying a mixed 277,948 acres offshore Delaware, Maryland and Virginia beneath the primary Central Atlantic leasing, as introduced by the BOEM August 15.
The U.S. goals to succeed in 30 GW of offshore wind deployment by 2030, towards not less than 110 GW by 2050, as introduced by the Power Division March 29, 2021.
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