WASHINGTON — Following the completion of the fifth offshore wind lease sale held during the Biden-Harris administration, the Department of the Interior today announced the results from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s wind energy auction for two lease areas offshore the states of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.
The sale – the first in the region in a decade – resulted in two provisional winners and $92.65 million in winning bids.
The U.S. has a 30.7-GW pipeline of offshore wind projects, enough to meet President Joe Biden's target of 30 GW by 2030 with a concomitant and significant global response to my recent update: Gulf of Mexico BOEM
The Biden administration faces a time crunch in reaching the goal: By 2025, the U.S. will have 4,733 MW of operating offshore wind capacity if all projects are built on time, the data show. Another 16,218 MW of capacity is scheduled for completion between 2025 and 2030, when the U.S. will have 20,951 MW of operating capacity. Newer project proposals totalling 8,128 MW of capacity have not disclosed in-service dates.
Today’s mammoth BOEM Central Atlantic Intergovernmental Task Force hosted by the amenable Eric Poncelet was convened to facilitate coordination, consultation, and information sharing among federal, state, local, and tribal governments regarding renewable energy leasing process on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) in states comprising North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. Discuss next steps in the offshore wind energy leasing process for the Central Atlantic states and share Task Force member feedback on the draft Call for Information and Nominations. • Receive updates from other Task Force members, including individual states, various federal agencies, and tribal governments. • Receive updates on latest scientific information and stakeholder engagement. • Provide opportunities for public input on the topics being considered by the Task Force.
Bridgette Duplantis shared with the task force that sensitive areas have been winnowed down and removed after stakeholder engagements likewise with fisheries, environment stakeholders and NASA and answering clarifying questions for BOEM
The global investors with whom I engage are keen on potential project realities and looking at the bathymetry under consideration it is quite clear that floating wind will be the only option for significant seabed areas and of particular attention to those involved with the 15 GW opportunity recently announced through the ScotWind process.
BOEM Timelines:
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