The US Bureau of Ocean Vitality Administration (BOEM) has recognized a draft Wind Vitality Space (WEA) offshore the Gulf of Maine holding an estimated 40 GW of capability which can be put up for a lease sale in 2024.
The Draft WEA covers roughly 3,519,067 acres offshore Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, starting from roughly 23 – 120 miles off the coast.
In keeping with BOEM, as a result of deep waters inside the Gulf of Maine, these areas are additionally a chance to speed up the US management in floating applied sciences.
The draft WEA introduced on 19 October has a capability of over 40 GW, which exceeds the present mixed offshore wind vitality planning objectives for the Gulf of Maine states: 10 GW for Massachusetts and three GW for Maine.
To establish the draft WEA, BOEM labored collaboratively with the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Nationwide Facilities for Coastal Ocean Science to develop an ocean planning mannequin that identifies and minimises conflicts with coastal and marine assets and ocean customers.
BOEM additionally met with and integrated suggestions from Tribes, fishers, and the general public to refine the mannequin and inform the potential offshore areas that seem best suited for floating offshore wind vitality growth. Â
The Draft WEA avoids Lobster Administration Space 1 and all North Atlantic Proper Whale Restricted Areas. As well as, it additionally avoids different necessary fishing areas and habitats, together with necessary groundfish areas east of the Western Gulf of Maine Closure and inside the 10-kilometer buffer from Georges Financial institution, Platts Financial institution, Parker Ridge, and Three Dory Ridge, in response to BOEM.
The 30-day public remark interval already commenced yesterday throughout which BOEM will maintain a collection of public conferences to stipulate knowledge and data used to tell the draft WEA and to debate the following steps.
BOEM additionally seeks feedback on whether or not so as to add all or components of three secondary areas that had been recognized for extra evaluation however not a part of the draft WEA.Â
In July, the Maine Legislature handed a invoice that will name for the state to acquire 3 GW of offshore wind by 2040, sufficient to energy 900,000 properties and provide half of the state’s complete electrical energy demand.
In April, BOEM revealed the Gulf of Maine Name for Info and Nominations to evaluate curiosity in doable business offshore wind growth in areas offshore Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine, and to assemble public remark.
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BOEM issued a Request for Curiosity (RFI) for the Gulf of Maine within the Federal Register in August 2022 and, by October 2022, obtained nominations of areas of curiosity from Avangrid Renewables, TotalEnergies, Hexicon, Mainstream Renewable Energy, and Pine Tree Offshore Wind (a consortium comprising the State of Maine, the College of Maine, and a three way partnership between Diamond Offshore Wind and RWE Renewables).
Primarily based on the suggestions obtained through the public remark interval and trade nominations via the RFI, in addition to spatial evaluation carried out in partnership with Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Nationwide Middle for Coastal and Ocean Science (NCCOS), BOEM diminished the unique RFI space and revealed the Draft Name Space in January 2023.
Following this, the company hosted a collection of data exchanges on the Draft Name Space from January-February 2023 to get suggestions from Tribes, states, present ocean customers, and most of the people. The Last Name Space, revealed on 25 April, confirmed the diminished RFI space that lined 9.8 million acres, an almost 30 per cent discount.
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