US Moves Closer to Oregon (Floating) Offshore Wind Lease Sale | Offshore Wind - Offshore WIND
US Moves Closer to Oregon (Floating) Offshore Wind Lease Sale | Offshore Wind
US Moves Closer to Oregon (Floating) Offshore Wind Lease Sale
The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has identified two draft Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) offshore southern Oregon with which the federal agency plans to move forward and offer them in a lease sale, expected to take place in the first quarter of 2024.
Avangrid, Ocean Winds, BlueFloat Energy, and Mainstream Renewable Power, as well as a joint venture between TotalEnergies and Simply Blue Group, have already expressed interest in building floating wind farms offshore Oregon.
The two draft WEAs can accommodate up to 2.6 GW of offshore wind capacity which, given the deep waters in this US region, is expected to be installed using floating wind technologies.
At the beginning of last year, BOEM identified three Call Areas in federal waters offshore Oregon with a total installed capacity potential of 17 GW and started narrowing them down into Wind Energy Areas.
After revising the broader areas, in April 2022, BOEM issued a Call for Information and Nominations for two Call Areas, gathering feedback from the public, stakeholders, and other agencies – and inviting responses from developers interested in building wind farms offshore Oregon.
These initial two areas spanned 1,158,400 acres and saw nominations being submitted by four developers including Avangrid, BlueFloat Energy, Ocean Winds, and Mainstream Renewable Power, according to information available on BOEM’s website. In June last year, a joint venture between TotalEnergies and Simply Blue Group, Deep Blue Pacific Wind, also said that it responded to the Call, nominating three areas.
The two Oregon Call Areas have been further narrowed down since then to delineate sites to be offered in the first lease sale which is expected to be organised in early 2024.
The draft WEAs for the lease sale cover approximately 219,568 acres and are located within the borders of the two previously defined Call Areas.
BOEM has now opened a 60-day public review and comment period for the two WEAs to gather public input that will be considered before formally designating final WEAs off the coast of Oregon.
“At the request of Oregon’s governor and other state officials, there will be a 60-day public comment period on the draft WEAs and BOEM will hold an intergovernmental task force meeting in addition to public meetings during the comment period”, said BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein. “We look forward to working with the state to help us finalize offshore areas that have strong resource potential and the fewest environmental and user conflicts”.
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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.