The US Department of Interior (DOI) plans to hold a lease auction on 29 October for eight offshore wind areas in the Gulf of Maine, capable of delivering approximately 13 GW of renewable energy.
The area included in the Final Sale Notice (FSN) is about 120,000 acres less than what the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) included in its Proposed Sale Notice published earlier this year.
BOEM said it prioritized the avoidance of offshore fishing grounds, sensitive habitats, and existing and future vessel transit routes while still retaining sufficient acreage to support the region’s offshore wind energy goals.
The FSN for the Gulf of Maine auction, which will be published today (17 September), includes details regarding the auction, provisions, and conditions of the leases, the lease form, information on bidding credits, criteria for evaluating competing bids, award procedures, appeal procedures, and lease execution.
The document also includes several lease stipulations designed to promote the development of a domestic US supply chain for floating wind and advancing flexibility in transmission planning, minimising habitat impacts, and collecting data on protected marine mammals.
BOEM recently completed its final Environmental Assessment (EA) of the wind energy area in the Gulf of Maine. The FSN announcement comes after the US granted its first-ever floating offshore wind energy research lease in the Gulf of Maine just last month.
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