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The US Department of the Interior (Interior) announced a
competitive offshore wind lease sale in waters off New York and New
Jersey 11 June, extending a sequence of landmark steps in recent
weeks for the nascent sector that now encompasses opportunities on
three coastlines for the first time.
Three days earlier, on 8 June, Interior said it intended to look
into opportunities on the Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf,
the first federal step for developments along the US southern
coast. A day later, the state of North Carolina unveiled a 2030
offshore wind capacity goal of 2.8 GW.
The acceleration of the prospects began at the end of May when
the federal government designated two areas off the coast of California for development
after overcoming long-standing Department of Defense objections.
The designation sets the areas on the path to a lease auction by
mid-2022.
But the Biden-Harris administration's first offshore wind lease
sale will be in Atlantic Coast waters in an area known as the New
York Bight as it seeks to fulfill a promise to reach 30 GW of
capacity by 2030. The New York Bight is an area of shallow waters
between Long Island and the New Jersey coast.
The lease areas have the potential to unlock over 7 GW of
offshore wind capacity, powering more than 2.6 million homes and
supporting thousands of new jobs, Interior said in a statement
announcing the sale.
The proposed sale includes eight lease areas. With the release
of the proposed sale notice 11 June, a
60-day public comment period began. Potential new bidders must
submit required qualification materials by 13 August.
Avangrid Renewables, East Wind, EDF Renewables Development,
Equinor Wind, Horizon Wind Power, North River Wind, RWE Offshore
Wind Holdings, PNE USA, US Mainstream Renewable Power, US Wind, and
Invenergy Wind Offshore are already qualified to bid into the sale,
Interior said.
New York aims for 9 GW
The announcement won backing from state level leaders in New
York. "The development of green energy resources is one of the most
critical components in winning the global fight against climate
change and the Biden administration should be commended for moving
swiftly to advance offshore wind power in the New York Bight," said
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a statement via Twitter.
Cuomo has set a 2035 offshore wind goal of 9 GW.
Clean energy advocates also applauded the unveiling of the lease
sale. "We are thrilled to see the White House continue to step up
with concrete measures to help unleash America's nascent offshore
wind industry," American Council on Renewable Energy CEO Gregory
Wetstone said 11 June.
And National Ocean Industries Association President Erik Milito
said that as coastal states with the fourth and 11th-largest state
populations, respectively, New York and New Jersey are integral to
the development of offshore wind in the US.
Offshore wind development in the New York Bight could attract
almost $46 billion in capital investments and support up to 32,000
jobs, added American Clean Power Association Senior Director of
Policy and Regulatory Affairs for Offshore Wind Laura Morton.
But fishing interests, long-time critics of the impact of US
East Coast wind farms, were less pleased. "We maintain that rushing
to lease additional areas beyond the thousands of square miles
already slated for development of this new ocean use is misguided
and dangerous—particularly in the Bight which is perhaps the
most spatially conflicted area in the country," Annie Hawkins,
executive director at the Responsible Offshore Development
Alliance, a fishing industry interest group, said an 11 June
statement.
So far, Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) unit
has held eight competitive lease sales and issued 17 active
commercial offshore wind leases on the Atlantic Coast from
Massachusetts to North Carolina.
IHS Markit data shows the US
has at least 21.9 GW of offshore wind projects in the pipeline
awaiting various approvals, but only two wind farms are currently
operational, and one is a pilot project, meaning just 42 MW of
capacity is online at the moment.
North Carolina target
Also on the Atlantic Coast, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper
on 9 June issued Executive Order No.218, establishing offshore wind
goals of 2.8 GW by 2030 and 8 GW by 2040. Cooper said the capacity
would help achieve the state's Clean Energy Plan goal of a 70%
reduction in power sector GHG emissions by 2030 and carbon
neutrality by 2050.
In October 2020, Cooper teamed up with his Maryland and Virginia
counterparts to create the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic Regional
Transformative Partnership for Offshore Wind Energy Resources,
which will looks to jointly promote, develop, and expand offshore
wind generation and its supply chain in the neighboring states.
Maryland has a 1.2 GW of offshore wind by 2030 goal.
Virginia is home to one of the two operational US offshore
windfarms—the 12-MW, two-turbine Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind
pilot project. The pilot project is a precursor to what is the
biggest US offshore wind farm announced yet, Dominion Energy's 2.64-GW wind farm of the same name.
Ralph Northam, Virginia's governor, in 2020 set the state a
5.2-GW offshore wind goal by 2034, with 2.6 GW of that online by
2030, which the Dominion wind farm, due online in 2026, would meet
in its entirety four years early if it obtains federal permits and
begins construction as planned.
Gulf Coast debut
US Gulf Coast (USGC) offshore wind developments are at an even
earlier stage than those on the Atlantic Coast, where the only two
operational wind farms are located.
BOEM published a Request for Interest (RFI) in
the Federal Register 11 June, focused on the Western and
Central Planning Areas of the Gulf of Mexico—which are off the
coasts of Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama.
Although the primary focus of the RFI is on wind energy
development, BOEM is also seeking information on other renewable
energy technologies.
Following the publication of the RFI, a 45-day public comment
period began. BOEM is launching a Gulf of Mexico Intergovernmental
Renewable Energy Task Force to help coordinate planning and solicit
feedback. The first task force meeting will be on 15 June.
"The Gulf of Mexico has decades of offshore energy development
expertise. Today's announcement represents the first step in
harnessing that expertise and applying it to the renewable energy
sector," Mike Celata, regional director of BOEM's Gulf of Mexico
office in New Orleans, said in a statement released alongside the
announcement.
Building Gulf of Mexico offshore wind capacity is "definitely
necessary" if the US is to hit the 30 GW by 2030 target, IHS Markit
Senior Research Analyst, Global Wind Energy, Samantha Bobo
said.
However, wind resources in the Gulf of Mexico are not as strong
as on the Atlantic Coast and only Texas has a renewable energy
capacity target in the region, said Bobo. In addition, that target
has been met already through onshore wind, raising questions on
whether offshore wind will be an attractive enough USGC investment
without state incentives, she said.