The Interior Department said Wednesday it plans to hold up to 12 offshore wind auctions through 2028, a five-year plan that looks to boost investor confidence in the fledgling offshore wind industry and deliver on President Joe Biden’s goal of reaching 30 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2030.
The lease auctions are expected to be held in the Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific, and the waters offshore of the U.S. territories, Interior officials said Wednesday.
Interior’s five-year plan includes four offshore wind auctions to be held this year, officials said, for acres in the Central Atlantic, the Gulf of Maine, the Gulf of Mexico, and Oregon. In 2025 and 2026 it will hold one lease sale per year in the Gulf of Mexico and the Central Atlantic, respectively.
In 2027, the department will hold two auctions for offshore acres in the Gulf of Mexico and New York Bight, followed by four planned lease sales in 2028, to auction off acres offshore California, an undetermined U.S. territory, the Gulf of Maine, and Hawaii.
Interior officials said the new schedule will help states, communities, and developers better plan for the expensive and time-consuming offshore wind projects in the U.S.
“Our offshore wind leasing schedule will provide predictability to help developers and communities plan ahead and will provide the confidence needed to continue building on the tremendous offshore wind supply chain and manufacturing investments that we’ve already seen,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement.
The effort is the latest attempt from the Biden administration to add momentum to the offshore wind industry in the U.S., at a time when commercial developers have faced a cascading series of setbacks in recent months due to supply chain delays and higher than expected project costs.
Combined, the conditions have created a perfect storm for developers in the United States, prompting developers to cancel billions of dollars in planned projects and threatening Biden’s goals.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
To date, Interior has approved roughly 10 GW in offshore projects.
Earlier this week, New York declined to award final contracts to three major offshore wind projects due to what state officials described as “materially altered plans” submitted by the developer.