Six New York Bight wind leases could push US to 30 GW offshore wind by 2030: industry

The Biden administration will hold its first offshore wind auction on Feb. 23, offering more than 488,000 acres in the New York Bight in a move industry groups say paves the way to reaching the president's offshore wind target.

The six commercial leases are the most ever offered and could generate between 5.6 GW and 7 GW of wind power, the US Department of the Interior said Jan. 12. President Joe Biden set a goal for the US to deploy 30 GW of offshore wind by 2030.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland told reporters that Interior expects to hold up to six more offshore wind lease sales after the New York Bight by 2025.

When considering the permitting and construction timelines of projects already under development, the six new lessees could begin generating power by the end of the decade, said Liz Burdock, president and CEO of the Business Network for Offshore Wind. There are 25 qualified bidders for the leases.

"We're very optimistic ... that this will definitely be operating before the 2030 deadline," Burdock said.

The roughly seven- to eight-year timeline for existing projects to begin operating could be reduced given improved public and private sector knowledge and pre-site investigation in the leased areas, Burdock said.

With the six leases in addition to facilities already under development and proposed projects off the coast of North Carolina, the nation is poised to hit President Joe Biden's 2030 target, she said. There are 17 projects under development aside from the new leases that could generate about 20 GW of clean power.

Gregory Wetstone, president and CEO of the American Council on Renewable Energy, said the announcement marked an "important step toward meeting the administration's ambitious goals. This action charts a path forward for deploying 30 GW of offshore wind by the end of the decade while creating thousands of good-paying jobs."

Ed Wagner, chief revenue officer at WindESCO, a renewable energy performance analytics company located outside of Boston, pointed to the importance of looking at wind plants as a "whole optimized system" rather than focusing on increased capacity.

"We are interested in increasing annual energy production through a fundamental shift in how turbines are operated in a wind plant from single isolated units to a more cooperative system that leverages information from neighboring turbines to increase optimization," Wagner said.

Supply chains

Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will require lessees to describe their plan to help contribute to a domestic offshore wind supply chain and report annually on their progress. The agency will also incentivize domestic procurement of wind energy components.

"It's great to see BOEM focus on supply chains specifically," Burdock said. "This is the first time that they've ever done that through an auction process, so I think it's a great step and it's showing the maturation of not just the industry but also of the stakeholders that are involved in the development of offshore wind."

The Department of Energy also released a report Jan. 12 outlining ways to deploy more offshore wind. Among its recommendations, the department called for greater investment in supply chain development -- including "customized offshore wind ports and vessels" – and more federal incentives for the sector.

In addition to Interior's efforts, the Department of Transportation recently awarded development program grants to two facilities to improve the industry's supply chain. The department will provide $20 million to the Portsmouth Marine Terminal in Virginia to support staging and storage areas for wind turbine components, according to a White House fact sheet. It also will give $29.5 million to the Port of Albany, New York, to develop a facility to assemble offshore wind towers.

The developments signify a "real turning-of-the-page in terms of the center of gravity of the wind industry over the next number of decades," New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said on a Jan. 12 call.

"We are now going to have a very significant regional cluster between New York and New Jersey that will make it very compelling ... for folks to not just install but build the stuff here," the Democrat said.

Transmission

On the transmission front, the Northeast can handle up to 10 GW of offshore wind, but the nation will need to further develop the grid, Burdock said. She expects to see a major investment in the system this year.

Stuart Nachmias, president and CEO of Con Edison Transmission, said New Jersey's transmission efforts offer an example of how the nation can tackle such buildout.

"We share the view that these projects need to be developed in coordination with development of a mesh-network transmission grid that can bring clean power to shore, maximize the use of shore landings, and allow operational flexibility," Nachmias said.

Interior will require lessees to identify any ocean users, tribes and communities their projects will affect and report on how they engage with those groups. The agency scaled down the leased acreage in the bight by about 72% to avoid conflicts with other ocean users and interest groups as it assessed the area.