All of the experts and government officials were surprised by the high bids received recently for eight offshore wind leases in the New York Bight. So in early December, an auction was held for bids for leases in five Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) off the central and northern coasts of California that could produce as much as over 6 gigawatts (GW) of power. Five different companies won the bids for one area lease each, totaling over ¾ of a billion dollars. The condition of the lease agreements is that the winning bidders must spend cumulatively over $100 million in workforce training programs for American workers to work on offshore wind installations or in their support.
The US Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) next emphasis is expected to be the Gulf of Mexico. The Biden Administration’s announced the goal of developing 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind energy by 2030. This includes two new WEAs in the Gulf of Mexico with the potential of producing up to 3 GW of power, with additional ones in the future. On October 31, 2022, BOEM announced that it had finalized the first two WEAs in the Gulf of Mexico, comprising of over 500,000 acres located 24 nautical miles off the coast of Galveston, Texas, and almost 175,000 acres located 56 nautical miles off the coast of Lake Charles, Louisiana. BOEM expects to issue a Proposed Sale Notice for the two locations by early 2023. The announcement follows years of planning and public outreach with stakeholders in the region including Tribes, local and state governments, fishing and shrimping interests, the maritime and oil & gas industries, the US Dept of Defense, and the Coast Guard.
The current administration is prioritizing renewable power, and in particular, wind power to meet climate change and clean power goals, and is moving forward on deals that will be difficult for a future administration to overturn or stymie wind power.
CCES has the experts to help you at your level to determine if renewable power is beneficial to you. Contact us today at karell@CCESworld.com or at 914-584-6720.