Federal government proposes sale of offshore wind lease off Virginia Beach coast - The Virginian-Pilot
Federal government proposes sale of offshore wind lease off Virginia Beach coast - The Virginian-Pilot
The United States Department of the Interior has announced the proposal for the sale of an offshore wind lease off the Atlantic Coast, including one area about 35 nautical miles from the shores of Hampton Roads.
According to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the sale will include an area off the coast of Maryland and Delaware in addition to the area in Virginia. Virginia’s area, also called Lease Area C-1, consists of 176,505 acres.
According to the proposed lease, the agreement would allow for a project to generate energy using wind turbine generators and “any associated resource assessment activities, located on the Outer Continental Shelf in the leased area.” It also includes any offshore substation platforms, inner array cables and subsea export cables. If approved, the operating lease for the Virginia site would last 33 years.
The two areas have the potential to power more than 2.2 million homes. The leases are part of the Biden-Harris administration’s broader efforts to create jobs by growing the American offshore wind industry and reaching its goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030. In July, the areas were announced after several feedback and outreach meetings with state leaders, tribes, residents and ocean users, and initially, plans included a third area off the Eastern Shore. That area was deemed not viable after a review found that significant costs and mitigation would be required.
“Since the start of our administration, the Department of the Interior has approved the nation’s first six commercial-scale offshore wind energy projects,” said Secretary Deb Haaland. “Today’s announcement is another step forward in the Biden-Harris administration’s pursuit of a clean energy future.”
The announcement begins a 60-day public comment period to see which of the areas should be considered for sale next year. The bureau is also seeking feedback on several stipulations for the leases, including bidding credits to bidders with workforce training programs for the offshore wind industry and credits for funding mitigation for potential negative impacts to local fisheries.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management partnered with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science to develop an ecosystem-based ocean planning model, and that model was used to help select the wind energy areas. The bureau is also working on an environmental assessment to evaluate environmental impacts.
The Defense Department, which uses the waters off Virginia for training, also weighed in.
“The Department of Defense is committed to protecting American national security interests, which includes reducing reliance on foreign energy sources and expanding domestic offshore wind energy development,” said Radha Plumb, deputy under the secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment. “The Department has been an active participant in the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s efforts to find the best locations for offshore development in the Central Atlantic and we look forward to the continued collaboration on this critical issue.”
In October, a large-scale, 176-turbine wind farm received final federal approval to be built 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach, and it is anticipated to generate enough energy to power up to 660,000 homes, according to Dominion Energy. Construction is slated to start next year with a completion date of the end of 2026. It was the fifth commercial offshore wind project approved by the Biden administration.
Eliza Noe, eliza.noe@virginiamedia.com
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.