BOEM Clears Oregon Offshore Wind Areas for Leasing, Expects to Hold Auction Later This Year

August 14, 2024, by Adrijana Buljan

The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has finalised the environmental review of the possible impacts of issuing leases for potential offshore wind development off the coast of Oregon. BOEM expects to hold the lease sale, the first-ever of this kind in Oregon, later this year.

On 13 August, the federal agency issued the final Environmental Assessment (EA) which finds no significant impacts of activities related to awarding offshore wind leases, including site assessment and site characterisation activities such as geophysical, geological, and archaeological surveys.

BOEM  published  the draft EA in May and opened a public comment period that was extended at the request of several commenters and closed on 14 June.

“BOEM relies on the best available science and information for our decision-making regarding offshore wind activities”, said BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein.

“Working with Tribes, government partners, ocean users, and the public, we gathered a wealth of data, diverse perspectives, and valuable insights that shaped our environmental analysis. We remain committed to continuing this close coordination to ensure potential offshore wind energy leasing and any future development in Oregon is done in a way that avoids, reduces, or mitigates potential impacts to ocean users and the marine environment”.

The US Department of the Interior (DOI) announced a proposed offshore wind lease sale (PSN) for two Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) in Oregon, the Coos Bay WEA and the Brookings WEA, in April 2024. Areas in the federal waters off Oregon are deemed most suitable for floating wind technology.

The developers that were pre-qualified to bid in the Oregon offshore wind lease sale by the time the PSN was issued include Avangrid Renewables, BlueFloat Energy, OW North America Ventures, and Mainstream Renewable Power. Other names might join the list as the PSN also opened a 60-day window for further developers to pre-qualify.

BOEM will publish a final sale notice (FSN) at least 30 days before the lease sale, detailing the time and date of the lease sale and all qualified participants.

The Coos Bay Wind Energy Area offshore Oregon is located approximately 32 miles (approximately 55 kilometres) from shore and covers 61,203 acres (approx. 248 square kilometres). The bigger Brookings Wind Energy Area spans 133,792 acres (approx. 541 square kilometres) and is located approximately 18 miles (approx. 29 kilometres) from shore.

The two areas have the potential to provide up to 3.1 GW of generation capacity and power over 1.1 million homes with clean energy, according to BOEM.