The Department of the Interior Monday announced it will hold an offshore wind energy lease sale on Oct. 29, for eight areas on the Outer Continental Shelf off Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. If fully developed, these areas have a potential capacity of approximately 13 gigawatts of clean offshore wind energy, which could power more than 4.5 million homes.
This comes even as a weird mixture of kooks, blinkered environmentalists and fossil-fuel interests shows signs of slowing down America’ very, very, very belated move into this fabulous energy source. Vineyard Wind didn’t help by having one of its blades break and wash up on the beach of rich people in Martha’s Vineyard; it’s still on pause while the accident is investigated.
The area included in the Final Sale Notice (FSN) is approximately 120,000 acres less than what the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) included in its Proposed Sale Notice, which was announced earlier this year. BOEM prioritized the avoidance of offshore fishing grounds, sensitive habitats, and existing and future vessel transit routes, while still retaining sufficient acreage to support the region’s offshore wind energy goals.
Details on the FSN, along with a map of the lease areas can be found on the BOEM’s website.
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