Despite the uncertainty surrounding the immediate future of the U.S. offshore wind industry after the re-election of Donald Trump, industry participants including the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (“BOEM”) are cautiously moving forward with development activities.Continue Reading BOEM Announces Comment Period on California Offshore Wind Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement
The offshore wind space in the U.S. is set for a period of uncertainty following the re-election of Donald J. Trump on November 5th. While there is still a lack of clarity around his future plans and potential outcomes, Trump’s rhetoric on the campaign trail and, importantly, actions undertaken during his previous administration, suggest that development in the space could be headed for a slowdown due to executive action, instability due to the threat of such action, or both.Continue Reading Offshore Wind in the Second Trump Administration
On October 29, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) held an auction for offshore wind areas in the Gulf of Maine. Although BOEM leased an offshore wind area in the Gulf of Maine for a research installation last August, the October auction was the first commercial offshore wind lease sale in the region. Of eight available areas, four were bid on and awarded. The areas in the Gulf of Maine are expected to require floating technology, a first for the east coast.Continue Reading First Commercial Offshore Wind Lease Sale in the Gulf of Maine Completed
On August 14, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) held an auction for two offshore wind areas in the Central Atlantic off the coasts of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. While seventeen companies were qualified to bid on the areas in the Final Sale Notice, only six companies made bids during the auction, continuing a recent trend of considerably fewer bidders than qualified entities in offshore auctions. After seven rounds of bidding, both areas were awarded for a total of $92.6M.Continue Reading Central Atlantic Auction – Key Takeaways and Next Steps
With the recent Gulf Auction falling short of expectations and projects on the East Coast faltering, many have adopted a bearish stance on the U.S. offshore wind sector. However, California recently passed two new bills to support the state’s burgeoning offshore wind industry: the Offshore Wind Advancement Act (AB 3) and the California Offshore Wind Expediting Act (SB 286). These bills, which take effect January 1, 2024, have the potential to significantly impact offshore wind development in California.Continue Reading New Bills Advance California’s Offshore Wind Strategy
On August 29th, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) held the first auction for offshore wind areas in the Gulf of Mexico. Sheppard Mullin’s preview of the auction can be accessed here. The auction concluded after just two rounds of bidding, with only the Lake Charles area off the coast of Louisiana being awarded. The two Texas areas available in the auction, Galveston I and II, received no bids.Continue Reading Gulf of Mexico Offshore Auction Falls Short of Expectations
On July 21, 2023, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issued a Final Sale Notice (FSN) for offshore wind leases covering three areas on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). The auction will include a 102,480-acre area off the coast of Lake Charles, Louisiana and two areas off the coast of Galveston, Texas totaling nearly 200,000 acres. On August 29th, up to fifteen qualified bidders will vie to become the first offshore wind leaseholders in this high-potential region.Continue Reading Previewing the Gulf of Mexico Offshore Wind Lease Auction
The dust has settled on the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) first west coast auction for federal offshore wind lease areas. The California auction for the Morro Bay and Humboldt Call Areas brought an aggregate $757,100,000 to federal coffers at a $2,028 per acre value (with variances between the areas discussed below). This per acre value is well below the results of the other BOEM auctions of 2022, New York Bight (approximately $9,000 per acre, the highwater mark in the U.S.) and Carolina Long Bay (approximately $2,800 per acre). The final figure places the final result firmly within, but on the low end of, BOEM’s pre-auction estimate of $400M – $1.6B.Continue Reading California’s First Offshore Wind Auction Finalized – Key Takeaways
The eyes of the offshore wind sector are turning with excitement to the west coast of the United States today as the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) conducts a scheduled mock auction for the Morro Bay and Humboldt Call Areas leading into the live auction tomorrow, December 6th.Continue Reading Market Conditions Among Factors Adding Variability to Potential California Offshore Lease Outcomes
After the landmark prices received for eight offshore wind leases in the New York Bight, and with great anticipation for the upcoming December 6, 2022, lease auction for the Humboldt and Morro Bay Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) off the coast of California, the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is turning its sights to the Gulf of Mexico. The Biden Administration’s announced goal of developing thirty (30) gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind energy by 2030 now includes two WEAs in the Gulf of Mexico with the potential of producing up to 3 GW of power.Continue Reading Offshore Wind Comes to the Gulf of Mexico
On October 21, 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (“BOEM”) published a Final Sale Notice (“FSN”) for commercial leasing for wind power on California’s Outer Continental Shelf (“OCS”). Specifically, the FSN announces a list of eligible bidders, deadlines, lease stipulations, and financial terms and conditions for an auction of five leases within the Humboldt Wind Energy Area (“WEA”) and Morro Bay WEA. We highlighted these elements of the FSN and discussed bid credits in prior blog posts. Here, we summarize several aspects of the FSN which stem from the California Coastal Commission’s consistency determinations for both WEAs.Continue Reading California Offshore Wind Lease Sale Announced by Bureau of Ocean Energy Management