Site Identification & Resource Assessment

Breaking news! Department of Interior takes a significant step towards expanding renewable energy sources by announcing the next steps for offshore wind energy in the Gulf of Mexico. This initiative aims to not only increase energy production but also create job opportunities and help combat climate change.

Floating offshore wind potential offers more than two times the energy equivalent of annual U.S. electricity consumption, even after accounting for relative technical suitability in support of responsible offshore wind energy deployment. 

Land-based and offshore wind are expected to be a cornerstone for achieving U.S. clean electricity generation objectives, including 100% clean electricity by 2035 and an 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind by 2030. Meeting these goals will require significant expansion of domestic supply chains and installation of unprecedented amounts of wind capacity. To meet this challenge, researchers compiled a report examining the U.S. land-based and offshore wind energy supply chain, including raw materials, processed materials, components, sub-components, and recycling.

This document is the proposed sale notice (PSN) for the sale of a commercial wind energy lease on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) in the Carolina Long Bay area offshore North Carolina (Lease Area). The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) proposes to offer a single lease using a multiple-factor bidding auction format. The PSN contains information pertaining to the areas available for leasing, certain provisions and conditions of the lease, auction details, lease forms, criteria for evaluating competing bids, award procedures, appeal procedures, and lease execution procedures. The issuance of a lease resulting from this sale, if any, would not constitute an approval of project-specific plans to develop offshore wind energy. Such plans, if submitted by the lessee, would be subject to subsequent environmental, technical, and public reviews prior to a decision on whether the proposed development should be authorized.

Consistent with the regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), BOEM announces its intent to prepare an EIS for the review of a construction and operations plan (COP) submitted by Mayflower Wind Energy, LLC (Mayflower Wind) for the construction and operation of a wind energy facility offshore Massachusetts with proposed interconnection locations at Falmouth, Massachusetts, and at Brayton Point in Somerset, Massachusetts. This NOI announces the EIS scoping process for the Mayflower COP. Additionally, this NOI seeks public comment and input under section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and its implementing regulations. Detailed information about the proposed wind energy facility, including the COP, can be found on BOEM's website at: www.boem.gov/​mayflower-wind.

NMFS has received a request from Ocean Wind, LLC (Ocean Wind), a subsidiary of Orsted Wind Power North America, LLC's (Orsted), for authorization to take small numbers of marine mammals incidental to construction activities associated with the Ocean Wind 1 wind energy facility in the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's (BOEM) Lease Area Outer Continental Shelf (OCS)-A-0498 Commercial Lease of Submerged Lands for Renewable Energy Development on the Outer Continental Shelf off of New Jersey over the course of 5 years beginning in 2023. Pursuant to regulations implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is announcing receipt of Ocean Wind's request for the development and implementation of regulations governing the incidental taking of marine mammals. NMFS invites the public to provide information, suggestions, and comments on Ocean Wind's application and request.

Maps that provide data and trends over the past decade.

The SARAL-AltiKa dataset was evaluated for refined offshore wind energy resources assessment and potential metocean monitoring capability in the Southern New England region. Surface wind speed and Significant Wave Height (Hs) products were assessed with corresponding variables from buoy observations for 2014–2019. To increase the sample size, this study analyzed and applied an approach to collect data around the reference buoys beyond the satellite footprint at the expense of a bias increment. The study corroborated the accuracy of the SARAL-AltiKa measurements for the offshore area of interest and added details for stations closer to the coast compared with past studies.