BOEM: Gulf of Maine Could Support up to 32 GW of Offshore Wind Generation

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Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--President Joe Biden's goal of having 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind generation by 2030, and an additional 15 GW of floating offshore wind generation capacity by 2035, got a boost last month after the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), a branch of the Department of Interior (DOI), determined that the Gulf of Maine was capable of supporting up to 32 GW of offshore wind.

In finalizing its designation of a 2-million-acre area off the coasts of Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire as a wind energy area (WEA), BOEM sharply scaled back earlier estimates of how much offshore wind energy the area could support. The 2-million-acre final WEA is an 80% reduction from the area BOEM originally identified for possible leasing and a 43% cut from last Fall's draft WEA, the agency said in a statement March 15. Last Fall's draft WEA estimated the Gulf of Maine could support up to 40 GW of offshore wind generation in an area of approximately 3.5 million acres off the coasts of Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

The BOEM is responsible for managing the development of energy, mineral and geological resources in the Outer Continental Shelf in an environmentally and economically responsible way.

In a March 19 notice in the Federal Register, BOEM said public comments on the designated WEA will be accepted through mid-April. The agency added that it intends to prepare an environmental assessment of the potential impacts from offshore wind acreage leasing. If the bureau decides to move forward with a lease sale in the Gulf of Maine WEA, there will be another public comment period.

BOEM said the slimmed-down WEA avoids important areas for lobster fishing, North Atlantic right whale habitat and other important fishing areas and habitats. Additionally, in response to initial conversations with Tribal Nations located within Maine, the WEA strives to avoid a majority of the historical and present-day fishing grounds of those tribes.

BOEM said it finalized the WEA after extensive engagement with the states of Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire as well as with tribes, local residents, ocean users including the fishing community, federal government partners, and other members of the public. Their feedback caused BOEM to sharply reduce the size of the WEA.

Elizabeth Klein, BOEM's director, said her agency "is committed to maintaining strong collaboration with the states of Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire as we advance our efforts in the Gulf of Maine. We remain dedicated to engaging with tribal governments, federal and state agencies, ocean stakeholders, coastal communities, and all interested parties as we progress through our environmental review."

In recent months, offshore wind development in the Atlantic Ocean has been a particularly turbulent mix of good news and bad: some projects have sent first electricity to shore, an important milestone, but others have exited partnerships and projects while still others have gone back to state agencies to try to renegotiate purchase power agreements with off-takers that were signed prior to COVID-19 and the resulting supply-chain snarls made some agreed-upon prices uneconomic. For more on this market, see March 28, 2024, article - New York Sees Record Solar, Wind Generation as Another Offshore Windfarm Gains Approval; March 22, 2024, article - U.S. Offshore Wind Seeing Some Momentum; March 15, 2024, article - Ørsted Completes U.S. Offshore Windfarm, Divests Stake in Onshore Wind Assets; and January 10, 2024, article - U.S. Offshore Wind Projects: Three Steps Backward, One Step Forward.

Some analysts have said the 30 GW by 2030 goal is a moonshot project that needs to be rethought and reassessed. Writing in Transmission & Distribution World, Marianne Goldsborough, Burns & McDonnell's HVDC business manager, said, "Unfortunately, some of the early projects have run into challenges that require renegotiating purchase power agreements (PPAs) or outright project cancelation. Supply-chain bottlenecks have driven up project costs and led to delays in scheduled in-service dates, wreaking havoc on the early projects."

"Another problematic factor," she continued, "is the bids' requirements: Developers were required to submit a fixed price and schedule for a project nearly a decade away from commercial operations. Modifying the terms of that bid to reflect changing market conditions has proved to be almost impossible, causing some projects to be canceled. There must be a better way to balance cost certainty for all sides rather than the current win-lose arrangement."

She noted the scarcity of vessels that could transport the huge components of offshore wind towers, which can be as tall as three football fields (900 feet). There are few such ships operating in the world, and most of them are under contract for other projects in other countries.

The 32 GW that BOEM estimates the Gulf of Maine WEA could support is more than enough to meet the clean power goals of Maine (3 GW) and Massachusetts (10 GW), the BOEM said in a March 15 press release.

Efforts to reach the agency for additional information, such as the estimated time to conduct an environmental assessment of the WEA and the number of bidders who have expressed possible interest in building offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine, were not successful.

While numerous developers have proposed offshore wind projects in the Atlantic, none have put forth a proposed project for the Gulf of Maine. Overall, Industrial Info is tracking 20 offshore wind projects scheduled to be built in the Atlantic Ocean. The collective value of those projects is nearly $43 billion. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Power Project Database can click here for a list of detailed reports.

The BOEM's final WEA for the Gulf of Maine got an enthusiastic endorsement from Francine Kershaw, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

"The Final WEA identified for potential offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine is largely located away from habitats of higher importance to endangered North Atlantic right whales," she said in a statement. "This smart siting decision will help the industry advance responsibly in this new offshore wind region."

"We need offshore wind, and we need to do it right," she continued. "This kind of clean energy will help eliminate dangerous greenhouse gas emissions and create thousands of well-paying sustainable jobs. But as we fight climate change, we must avoid, minimize, and mitigate threats to ocean life in whatever ways we can."

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).