Energy & Climate Change Planning

Departments of Energy, Interior, Commerce, and Transportation Launch Initiatives on Floating Offshore Wind to Deploy 15 GW, Power 5 Million Homes, and Lower Costs 70% by 2035; Coordinated actions include a new initiative - The Floating Offshore Wind Shot - to grow clean energy capacity and drive U.S. leadership in floating offshore wind design, development, and manufacturing through funding opportunities and research.

Biden's executive actions include kickstarting potential for offshore wind in Gulf of Mexico, which includes the DOI announcement to seek public input on two potential Wind Energy Areas—one off the coast of Galveston, TX and Lake Charles, LA; another action includes advancing clean energy development off the coasts of FL, GA, NC, SC - ensuring that these southeast states will be able to benefit from good-paying jobs.

The Department of the Interior announces the launch of an environmental review for the first proposed wind energy project in federal waters off the coast of Massachusetts, marking a significant step towards the Biden-Harris administration's goal of deploying 30 GW of offshore wind by 2030.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced the availability of its draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed New England Wind energy project offshore Massachusetts. If approved, this proposed 2,600-megawatt project could provide power for more than 900,000 homes.

The Department of the Interior proposed the first-ever offshore wind lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico

The report explored how Maine should approach energy markets, ports and infrastructure, manufacturing and supply chains, workforce development, socioeconomic impacts, and equity, while at the time preserving the Gulf of Maine ecosystem and supporting our vibrant and thriving seafood industries and coastal communities.

On  Feb. 23, 2022, BOEM held an offshore wind auction for six lease areas in the New York Bight.  The lease sale drew competitive winning bids from six companies totaling approximately $4.37 billion. This is the Executive Lease for Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Bight, LLC.

US Wind has decided to utilize a metocean buoy and meteorological tower offshore Maryland. Accordingly, US Wind is submitting this SAP for the deployment, operation and decommissioning of a metocean buoy. Much of the information contained in the original SAP has been retained and updated where needed along with new information specific to the metocean buoy and its deployment and operation from 2016 up to 2021.

At this time, the Company proposes to develop approximately 40 percent of the Lease Area, an area located 12 in the northwest corner closest to shore (19,441 ha, referred to as the Wind Development Area). 13 Infrastructure in the Wind Development Area will include wind turbine generators (WTGs), inter-array 14 cables, and an electrical service platform (ESP). The Project will connect from the ESP through offshore 15 export cables (within a designated corridor) and onshore export cables to the new onshore substation in 16 Virginia Beach, Virginia, where the renewable electricity generated will be transmitted to the electric grid.

As part of the Biden-Harris administration’s goal of deploying 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind by 2030, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) today announced it has completed its environmental review of potential impacts from offshore wind energy leasing activities in the Humboldt Wind Energy Area (WEA), located 20 miles offshore northern California, and based on its analysis has issued a finding of no significant impact (FONSI).