Wind Energy Area (WEA) B1 (coloured pink on map) is the topic of ongoing coordination with Department of Defense and NASA. [Image: BOEM]
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has finalized collection of three Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) offshore Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia that would assist between 4 and eight gigawatts of vitality manufacturing.
The three WEAs complete roughly 356,550 acres. The first (A-2) is 101,767 acres and situated 26 nautical miles from Delaware Bay. The second (B-1) is 78,285 acres and about 23.5 nautical miles offshore Ocean City, Md. The third WEA (C-1) is 176,506 acres and situated about 35 nm from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, offshore Virginia.
There have been stories of Pentagon considerations that offshore wind improvement in a few of these areas may intrude with some coaching missions.
As a part of BOEM’s ongoing coordination with the Department of Defense and NASA, an in-depth evaluate of WEA B-1 will proceed to find out if their actions may co-exist with wind vitality improvement. The outcomes of the ultimate in-depth evaluation from DoD and NASA might be used to tell whether or not WEA B-1 must be included in a attainable lease sale, which might be the following step within the wind vitality course of. There could be one other public remark interval if BOEM decides to maneuver ahead with a proposed lease sale, and if Area WEA B-1 is included in a proposed lease sale, any needed mitigation could be recognized to tell bidders prematurely of a future sale.
“BOEM values a robust and transparent offshore wind planning process, which requires early and frequent engagement with tribal governments, the Department of Defense, NASA, other government agencies, and ocean users,” stated BOEM Director Liz Klein. “We will continue to work closely with them, and all interested stakeholders, as we move forward with our environmental review.”
BOEM will publish its Notice of Intent to arrange an environmental evaluation of potential impacts from offshore wind leasing within the WEAs within the Federal Register on August 1, 2023. This will provoke a 30-day public remark interval. Another public remark interval would comply with if BOEM decides to maneuver ahead with a lease sale in any of the WEAs.
BOEM partnered with NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) to develop a complete, ecosystem-based ocean planning mannequin that assisted within the collection of the ultimate WEAs.
This mannequin leveraged greatest accessible knowledge on pure sources, ocean industries like fisheries and vitality manufacturing, and areas of nationwide safety actions to establish areas with excessive wind vitality useful resource potential whereas lowering potential impacts to different ocean customers and delicate environmental sources.
On November 16, 2022, BOEM introduced and requested public touch upon eight draft WEAs on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf offshore North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware, overlaying roughly 1.7 million acres. The draft WEAs represented a subset of the unique 3.9 million acres that the Department of the Interior recognized for public remark in April 2022.
The last WEAs are in comparatively shallow water. BOEM could establish further WEAs in deepwater areas offshore the U.S. Central Atlantic coast for future leasing as soon as additional research of these areas has been finished.
