US unveils large Gulf of Maine area for floating offshore wind
The Bureau of Offshore Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has unveiled a draft wind energy area (WEA) in the Gulf of Maine, and it avoids an area important for lobsters and also restricted areas for the north Atlantic right whale. The draft WEA covers approximately 14,241km2 off Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, ranging from approximately 37-193 km off the coast. BOEM believes the area could host more than 40GW of offshore wind capacity, which is higher than the current combined goals for Gulf of Maine states: 10GW for Massachusetts and 3GW for Maine. The proposed WEA avoids lobster management area 1 and all north Atlantic right whale-restricted areas. Its deep waters would necessitate the use of floating platforms to support wind farms’ turbines, BOEM added. A 30-day public review and comment period now starts. “BOEM strives to minimise potential impacts and will continue working hard to finalise offshore areas that have strong resource potential and the fewest environmental and user conflicts,” said BOEM’s director, Elizabeth Klein.
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.