Activity in alternative power generation in the renewable energy sector, and particularly in offshore wind farms, continues at a frenzied pace. With movement in the public and private sectors facilitating infrastructure construction and development, offshore wind farms are expected to begin to dot the U.S. landscape on the East and West coasts.
An April 2023 study from the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, Calif., shows that power generation and energy storage in the transmission interconnection queues across the United States continues to grow dramatically, with over 2,000 gigawatts (GW) of total generation and storage capacity currently seeking connection to the grid.
West Coast start-ups
Dozens of firms bid on offshore leases to build floating wind farms in California’s ocean waters in Morro Bay and Humboldt County. The auction was the first of its kind and included five sites totaling nearly 375,000 acres. Provisional winners of the leases include RWE Offshore Wind Holdings LLC; California North Floating LLC; Equinor Wind US LLC; Central California Offshore Wind LLC; and Invenergy California Offshore LLC.
The leases from the federal government begin a years-long regulatory process that is expected to result in the first commercial-scale floating wind turbines off the California coast. Unlike current offshore wind turbines fixed to the ocean floor on the East coast, California’s turbines would float on platforms anchored by cables in waters reaching about a half-mile deep.
The auction for leases to build the massive wind farms netted more than $757 million, “signaling the beginning of a competitive market for a new industry producing carbon-free electricity,” according to news organization CalMatters.
Offshore waters have the potential to host several hundred turbines that produce more than 4.5 GW to power about 1.5 million homes. The goal of the state of California is to product at least 25 GW from offshore wind sources by 2045.
Looking to the East Coast
The price for California’s wind farm leases was considerably less than the $4 billion companies paid for six leases off the coasts of New York and New Jersey in February 2023 in the New York Bight offshore wind sale. The sale areas totaled over 488,000 acres, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of the Interior. The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) completed the country’s biggest offshore wind auction after three days, with lease sales to go to the U.S. Treasury.
The federal government has held 10 other competitive lease sales and issued 27 commercial wind leases in the Atlantic Ocean, spanning from Massachusetts to North Carolina, according to BOEM.
The country’s first offshore wind project, off the coast of Rhode Island, launched in 2016 with five turbines, followed by a project in Virginia with two turbines. These two offshore wind farms can generate a combined 42 megawatts (MW) of electricity. In April 2023, the Department of the Interior announced that the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement completed its review of design and installation reports for the South Fork Wind project, clearing the way for the start of turbine construction off the coasts of Rhode Island and New York. This will be the first commercial-scale, offshore wind energy project to start turbine construction in federal waters.
In May, the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources and the electric distribution companies jointly filed a draft Request for Proposals (RFP) with the Department of Public Utilities for the fourth and largest offshore wind solicitation in New England to date. If approved, the RFP will invite submittals for offshore wind generation to procure up to 3,600 MW, which represents 25% of the state’s annual electricity demand and a significant increase over the previous procurement, which sought approximately 1,600 MW of offshore wind.
Building and operating the nation’s new offshore wind industry will be worth $109 billion to supply chain businesses over the next 10 years, according to one report.
