Flagship 3GW floating wind lease off Oregon 'by 2024' as US steps-up offshore build

The US state of Oregon has unveiled plans to host an up-to-3GW offshore wind lease sale as early as 2024, a key stride forward for the regional play after several false starts over the past decade.

The plan published by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), part of the federal Department of Interior, scopes out some 17GW of potential sites in the Pacific off the north-west US state, which it will whittle down through stakeholder consultation to a first group of leases to be auctioned off.

Deepwater development areas in Coos Bay (10.5GW potential), Brandon (2.9GW) and Bookings (3.5GW) – zones where the seafloor drops away to depths of 1,300-2,000-metres, necessitating floating platforms – are all to be studied for future offshore wind projects.

BOEM director Amanda Lefton said the task force set up to “help inform next steps” to move Oregon forward with its leasing process would now “collaborate with all stakeholders, government partners, tribal leaders, ocean users” to decide on the so-called call areas that would be marked out for auction.

“This will help us to identify any potential conflicts with ocean users. So we can truly identify those areas of least impact. The call is really an important first step in the leasing process,” she said.

The US National Renewable Laboratory calculated in a 2021 study that over 2.6W of offshore wind capacity could be integrated into Oregon’s power system “without major upgrades to the trans-coastal transmission or significant curtailment of offshore wind generation” if the floating arrays were positioned in two call areas close by five operating coastal substations.