US sets date for Gulf of Maine floating offshore wind lease auction
US sets date for Gulf of Maine floating offshore wind lease auction | Windpower Monthly
The US Department of the Interior will hold an offshore wind lease auction in the Gulf of Maine on 29 October.
It believes the lease areas on offer could support 13GW of floating offshore wind capacity.
The final sale notice (FSN) includes eight lease areas off Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. The area included in the FSN is around 485.6 km2 less than what the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) put forward in its proposed sale notice announced at the end of April.
The Gulf of Maine’s deep waters mean that any wind farms there would have to use floating platforms.
“The upcoming Gulf of Maine offshore wind energy auction reflects our all-of-government approach for reaching the Biden-Harris Administration’s energy goals while combating the climate crisis,” said BOEM director Elizabeth Klein. “Together, we can do our part to facilitate a new American industry while fostering job growth and promoting equitable economic opportunities for all communities.”
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.