US issues environmental review for 30-million-acre Gulf of Mexico offshore wind play
Assessment incorporates existing wind energy areas and leverages knowledge gleaned across decades of offshore oil and gas development
The release of an EA across an entire call area breaks from BOEM standard operating procedures of assessing specific wind energy areas (WEAs).
“We decided to do it the same way for renewable energy because we have a lot of information already on the Gulf,” said Filostrat. “It's a scenario that's been studied and analyzed and looked at for the past five, six decades.”
The Gulf call area-wide EA allows greater flexibility for possible identification of additional WEAs and to provide NEPA [National Environmental Policy Act] coverage in the event that non-competitive and research leases were proposed outside them, BOEM said.
NEPA is the 1970 US bedrock law on environmental protection under which all federal development decisions are governed.
“The completion of our environmental review is an important step forward to advance clean energy development in a responsible manner while promoting economic vitality and well-paying jobs in the GoM region,” said BOEM director Liz Klein.
The EA encompasses two WEAs established by BOEM within the call area offshore Texas and Louisiana last year totalling some 682,000 acres.
BOEM closed commentary period on the two WEAs in April and is now reviewing 330 comments by stakeholders prior to holding auctions anticipated for later this year.
The GoM holds some 500GW of commercial offshore wind potential, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
The region faces challenges including lower wind speeds of around 7.4 metres per second (m/s), weaker than either the Atlantic or Pacific coasts, and less stable seabed conditions. Hurricanes will also require more robust industrial infrastructure, adding to development and operation costs.
Despite these drawbacks, the region has attracted considerable interest from developers due to its proximity to the offshore petroleum sector that can provide readily transferable supply chain and workforce capacity as well as demand created by massive industrialisation of the Gulf coast.
Louisiana has set a goal of 5GW of offshore wind capacity by 2035 towards economy wide net zero emissions by 2045, with the state's industrial sector in the crosshairs for emissions reductions.
Louisiana's industry emits nearly 70% of its total emissions and consumes nearly a third of the nation's hydrogen.
Industry expects that generation of green hydrogen from renewable sources will drive growth in offshore wind in the Gulf.
BOEM anticipates as many as 18 commercial and research wind energy leases in the GoM. The EA also provides NEPA-coverage for unsolicited commercial or research leases outside established WEAs.
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