Interior Department has now approved more than 19 gigawatts of offshore wind energy
December 22, 2024 – WASHINGTON – The Biden-Harris administration on Friday announced the approval of the SouthCoast Wind Project – the nation’s 11th commercial-scale offshore wind energy project approved under President Biden’s leadership. With Friday’s approval, the Department and its Bureau of Ocean Energy Management have approved over 19 gigawatts (GW) of clean energy from offshore wind energy projects – enough to power more than 6 million homes.
"When we walked in the door of this Administration, there were zero approved, commercial-scale offshore wind projects in federal waters. Today, I am proud to celebrate our 11th approval, a testament to the commitment and enduring progress made by the hardworking public servants at the Department of the Interior," said Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland. "With President Biden’s leadership through the Investing in America agenda, we are addressing the climate crisis, creating jobs, and building an enduring economy that supports all communities."
"The approval of the SouthCoast Wind Project today demonstrates the strength of our collaborative process to deploy offshore wind. To help inform our decisions, our environmental reviews continue to integrate leading scientific research with key insights from Tribal Nations, states, other government agencies, industry, environmental groups, and ocean users," said Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Elizabeth Klein. "As we mark this achievement, we look forward to the meaningful economic opportunities the SouthCoast Wind Project will bring to this region, both during construction and throughout the project's lifetime."
The Department has worked to meet the moment to grow a clean energy economy that is strengthening the nation’s power grid and creating good-paying jobs across construction, manufacturing, shipbuilding, and more. In addition to the approval of the nation's first 11 commercial scale offshore wind projects, BOEM has held six offshore wind lease auctions since 2022 – including a record-breaking sale offshore New York and the first-ever sales offshore the Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, and Gulf of Maine coasts. The Department has also taken steps to grow a sustainable offshore wind industry by encouraging the use of project labor agreements, strengthening workforce training, bolstering a domestic supply chain, and through enhanced engagement with Tribes, fisheries, underserved communities and ocean users.
The SouthCoast Wind Project is expected to generate up to 2.4 GW of offshore wind energy for Massachusetts and Rhode Island, enough to power more than 840,000 homes. The project area covers approximately 127,388 acres and about 26 nautical miles (nm) south of Martha’s Vineyard and 20 nm south of Nantucket, Massachusetts.
The project, as approved, includes the construction of up to 141 wind turbine generators and up to five offshore substation platforms located at a maximum of 143 positions, and up to eight offshore export cables potentially making landfall in Brayton Point or Falmouth, Massachusetts. Compared to SouthCoast’s original proposed project, the selected alternative removes up to six wind turbine positions in the northeastern portion of the Lease Area to reduce potential impacts on foraging habitat and potential displacement of wildlife from this habitat adjacent to Nantucket Shoals.
On November 8, 2024, BOEM announced the final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed project, which analyzed the potential environmental impacts of the activities outlined in the project’s construction and operations plan and considered reasonable alternatives. BOEM facilitated three virtual public meetings in March 2023 to collect important feedback on the SouthCoast Wind draft EIS from Tribal Nations, local community members, commercial fishing interests, and other ocean users. BOEM developed required measures to avoid, minimize, and mitigate the project’s potential environmental impacts, based on the comprehensive review and feedback received during the environmental review process.
The "Notice of Availability of a Joint Record of Decision for SouthCoast Wind Energy LLC’s Proposed SouthCoast Wind Energy Project Offshore Massachusetts and Rhode Island" will be published in the Federal Register in the coming days.
For more information on the SouthCoast Wind Project, visit BOEM’s website.
Source & photo: DOI
