US Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said on Wednesday that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will potentially hold up to seven offshore wind auctions in the next four years for developments in the Gulf of Maine, New York Bight, Central Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, as well as offshore the Carolinas, California and Oregon.
“This timetable provides two crucial ingredients for success: increased certainty and transparency,” said Haaland.
“Together, we will meet our clean energy goals while addressing the needs of other ocean users and potentially impacted communities. We have big goals to achieve a clean energy economy and Interior is meeting the moment.”
BOEM is working on refining its process for identifying additional wind energy areas using the best available science, as well as knowledge from ocean users and other stakeholders, to minimize conflict with existing uses and marine life.
“We are working to facilitate a pipeline of projects that will establish confidence for the offshore wind industry,” said BOEM Director Amanda Lefton. “At the same time, we want to reduce potential conflicts as much as we can while meeting the administration’s goal to deploy 30 GW of offshore wind by 2030. This means we will engage early and often with all stakeholders prior to identifying any new wind energy areas.”
BOEM completed its review of a construction and operations plan (COP) for the Vineyard Wind project earlier this year, and is currently reviewing nine additional COPs, with plans to complete the review of at least another six by 2025, for a total of at least 16 COP reviews representing more than 19 GW of clean energy.
