The Department of the Interior (DOI) announced during September 2024 that it will hold an offshore wind energy lease sale on Octobert 29, 2024, for eight areas on the Outer Continental Shelf off Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. If fully developed, these areas have a potential capacity of approximately 13 gigawatts of clean offshore wind energy, which could power more than 4.5 million homes.
The eight lease areas are in waters too deep for traditional fixed-bottom wind turbines, requiring future projects to utilize floating offshore wind technology.
“The growing enthusiasm for the clean energy future is infectious. This announcement – which builds on the execution of the nation’s first floating offshore wind energy research lease in Maine during August 2024 – is the result of years of thoughtful coordination between our team, the Gulf of Maine states, industry and the Tribes and ocean users who share our interest in the health and longevity of our ocean,” said Secretary Deb Haaland.
The September 16 announcement is also built upon the best available science, including the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science’s ecosystem-based spatial suitability model, as well as over two years of extensive engagement with Tribes, fishing interests, and stakeholders across the region. Information gained through this engagement, including public comments, was instrumental in determining the final location, size and shape of the eight lease areas.
The area included in the Final Sale Notice (FSN) is approximately 120,000 acres less than what the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) included in its Proposed Sale Notice, which was announced earlier this year. BOEM prioritized the avoidance of offshore fishing grounds, sensitive habitats, and existing and future vessel transit routes, while still retaining sufficient acreage to support the region’s offshore wind energy goals.
The FSN for the Gulf of Maine auction includes details regarding the auction, provisions, and conditions of the leases, the lease form, information on bidding credits, criteria for evaluating competing bids, award procedures, appeal procedures, and lease execution. The FSN includes several lease stipulations designed to promote the development of a robust domestic U.S. supply chain for floating wind and create good-paying jobs, advance flexibility in transmission planning, minimize habitat impacts, and collect data on protected marine mammals.
To view the Final Sale Notice in the Federal Register, click HERE.
During the comment period, BOEM received nominations of areas of interest from seven offshore wind developers.
Each of the parties listed below has been legally, technically and financially qualified.
- Map of all Nominations Received
- Avangrid Renewables, LLC
- Corio USA ProjectCo LLC
- Diamond Wind North America, LLC
- Maine Offshore Wind Development LLC
- OW Gulf of Maine LLC
- Repsol Renewables North America, Inc.
- TotalEnergies SBE US, LLC
The issuance of any lease resulting from this sale does not authorize the construction and operations of an offshore wind facility. A lease provides the right to submit project-specific plans. Such plans, if submitted, would be subject to environmental, technical, and public reviews prior to a decision on whether the project proposals should be approved.
Details on the FSN, along with a map of the lease areas can be found on the BOEM’s website.
To read more about floating offshore wind in Maine, click HERE.
Guice Offshore Vessels Can Assist With Floating Offshore Wind Installation
While most of America’s offshore wind energy development to date has involved conventional turbines that are secured directly to the sea floor in shallow waters near the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico, the deep-water areas further out in the ocean are actually home to two-thirds of America’s floating offshore wind energy potential, including along the West Coast and in the Gulf of Maine. Harnessing power over waters hundreds to thousands of feet deep requires turbines mounted to a floating foundation or platform that is anchored to the seabed with mooring lines. These installations are among the largest rotating machines ever constructed.
Learn more about floating offshore wind and the extraordinary initiatives and research behind it HERE.
Guice Offshore (GO) works with offshore wind companies coast to coast. To serve the increasing demand for offshore vessels in the northeastern United States, particularly in the rapidly growing offshore wind business, Guice Offshore also has an office in Providence, Rhode Island.
“Our growing fleet of Jones Act-compliant, dynamically positioned offshore supply vessels, mini supply vessels and platform vessels is well-positioned to help meet our nation’s conventional and floating offshore wind energy infrastructure installation and service goal deadlines, whether it’s crew transfer, service, cable laying, subsea work like scour protection or equipment transportation,” noted Guice Offshore Vice President of Sales and Marketing David Scheyd.