BOEM approves US Wind’s 2GW Maryland offshore wind array
BOEM approves US Wind’s 2GW Maryland offshore wind array | Windpower Monthly
The Biden administration has given final environmental approval to a roughly 2GW offshore wind array US Wind is planning off the coast of Maryland.
The US Interior Department issued a record of decision for US Wind’s Maryland offshore wind project, which could have a combined capacity up to 2.2GW.
This enables US Wind to begin onshore construction and outlines what it must do to mitigate environmental impacts.
US Wind has already secured power deals for the 300MW MarWin and 808MW Momentum Wind projects included in the array. It plans a third project as part of the cluster.
The developer – majority-owned by Italian firm Renexia – plans to use 121 wind turbines with power ratings of 14-18MW, BOEM documents reveal. This would give the Maryland offshore wind array a total capacity of 1,694-2,178MW.
Counted as one project, the Maryland project is the tenth offshore wind farm approved by President Joe Biden's Interior Department. Biden has a goal of 30GW of offshore wind capacity online by 2030.
Related Knowledge Center: Offshore wind energy
Over the next decade, U.S. offshore wind power is expected to grow from a single 30-megawatt wind farm off Rhode Island to more than 2,000 MW of capacity along the Atlantic Seaboard. There are contracts for wind power off the coasts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Virginia.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has estimated the United States has over 4,000 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind potential, enough to power the country four times over.
The growth in part being spurred by state solicitations, including in New York, where then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) set a commitment of 9,000 MW of offshore wind by 2035, and in Connecticut, where in June 2021, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed legislation authorizing the construction of 2,000 MW of offshore wind by 2030.
The offshore development is also being driven by an investment tax credit set to end in December 2019 and is equal to 12 percent of expenditures. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) have introduced a bill to extend the tax credit for up to eight years.
The Interior Department has held eight competitive lease sales that resulted in 15 offshore wind leases over 1.7 million acres that has the potential for 21 GW of capacity. In February 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management completed a bidding process that realized $4.37 billion for 488,000 acres across six lease areas in federal waters off New York and New Jersey.
Projects have also been proposed off the Southeast coast, off California and Hawaii, and for the Great Lakes.