BOEM Issues Draft EIS for Maryland Offshore Wind Project | Offshore Wind - Offshore WIND
BOEM Issues Draft EIS for Maryland Offshore Wind Project | Offshore Wind
BOEM Issues Draft EIS for Maryland Offshore Wind Project
The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has issued the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed Maryland Offshore Wind Project.
If approved, the Maryland Offshore Wind Project could generate between 1,100 MW and 2,200 MW of clean, renewable energy to the Delmarva Peninsula, which could power up to 770,000 homes.
US Wind, Inc. is seeking approval for the construction and operation of the Maryland Offshore Wind Project, which includes three planned phases. Two of those phases, MarWin and Momentum Wind, have offshore renewable energy certificates from the State of Maryland.
US Wind’s proposal for all three phases includes the installation of up to 121 turbines, up to four offshore substation platforms, one meteorological tower, and up to four offshore export cable corridors with landfall occurring within Delaware Seashore State Park.
The lease area is approximately 8.7 nautical miles offshore Maryland and approximately 9 nautical miles from Sussex County, Delaware.
If approved, the development and construction phases of the project could support up to an estimated 2,679 jobs annually over seven years.
”This is the most significant step forward in the history of Maryland offshore wind,” said Jeff Grybowski, US Wind CEO.
”BOEM’s draft environmental impact statement sets us on a path toward starting construction on our offshore wind projects in 2025, putting Maryland’s goals that much closer to reality. We are proud to be the first to deliver this clean energy to Delmarva and look forward to the day we can get steel in the water.”
A 45-day public comment period on the draft EIS will commence on 6 October during which the public has an opportunity to submit written comments, attend in-person meetings in Ocean City, Maryland, and Sussex County, Delaware, and two virtual meetings.
”Today’s announcement represents another milestone under this Administration’s commitment to promoting clean energy production and fighting climate change, while ensuring our efforts are done in a transparent and inclusive manner,” said BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein.
”We value the knowledge we receive from Tribal nations, other government agencies, environmental organizations, local communities, ocean users, and others. Working together, we can reduce conflicts and establish a strong foundation for offshore wind energy projects moving forward.”
BOEM will use the findings of the final EIS to inform its decision on whether to approve the project’s Construction and Operations Plan, and if so, what mitigation measures to require.
US Wind acquired an 80,000-acre federal lease area off the coast of Maryland in 204. In 2017, Maryland approved the company’s MarWin project and, in 2021, the state approved the Momentum Wind project.
In addition to building MarWin and Momentum Wind, US Wind also plans to establish Maryland’s first permanent offshore wind component factory – Sparrows Point Steel.
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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.