Wind Power

Gulf of Mexico may be next up for offshore wind leases

Gulf of Mexico may be next up for offshore wind leases
Rough seas near the Block Island Wind Farm offshore Rhode Island. (Image: Dennis Schroeder / NREL)

The Department of the Interior proposed what it said would be the first-ever offshore wind lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico. 

The Proposed Sale Notice (PSN) includes a 102,480-acre area offshore Lake Charles, Louisiana, and two areas offshore Galveston, Texas, one comprising 102,480 acres and the other comprising 96,786 acres. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) said it is seeking public comments on which, if either, of the two lease areas offshore Galveston should be offered in the Final Sale Notice. 

The proposed sale is part of a leasing strategy announced in 2021 to meet a goal of deploying 30 GW of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030.

Since 2021, the Department has held three offshore wind lease auctions – including an sale offshore New York and the first-ever sale offshore the Pacific Coast in California, initiated environmental review of 10 offshore wind projects, and advanced the process to explore additional Wind Energy Areas in Oregon, Gulf of Maine and Central Atlantic. 

BOEM said it is also seeking feedback on several lease stipulations that it said would reaffirm its commitment to engage with stakeholders. Some of these potential stipulations include:

Bidding credits to bidders that commit to supporting workforce training programs for the offshore wind industry, developing a domestic supply chain for the offshore wind industry, or a combination of both.

Establishing and contributing to a fisheries compensatory mitigation fund or contributing to an existing fund to mitigate potential negative impacts to commercial and for-hire recreational fisheries caused by offshore wind development in the Gulf of Mexico.

Requiring that lessees provide a regular progress report summarizing engagement with Tribes and ocean users potentially affected by proposed offshore wind activities.

The PSN is planned to publish in the Federal Register in late February and starts a 60-day public comment period. If the Department decides to move ahead with the sale, BOEM said it would publish a Final Sale Notice at least 30 days ahead of the sale.

In a related move, the Energy Department announced what it said are new investments in its bid to secure U.S. leadership in floating offshore wind development by advancing offshore wind transmission planning, research and technology, and partnerships. 

DOE said that two-thirds of U.S. offshore wind resource are located in deep-water areas that require floating platforms. It said its latest actions are intended to support the goals of its Floating Offshore Wind Shot to reduce the cost of floating offshore wind energy by more than 70% by 2035 and deploy 15 GW of floating offshore wind by 2035. 

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