BOEM alters process to identify future offshore wind areas
By:
Tom Russell
20/09/2022
BOEM
The Bureau of Ocean Energy
Management’s (BOEM) announced efforts to improve its processes for identifying
future offshore wind energy sites. BEOM will apply these changes to ongoing
planning efforts in the Gulf of Mexico, Central Atlantic and Gulf of Maine,
and off the Oregon coast. It follows feedback from BOEM’s government partners
and other stakeholders.
BOEM uses scientific data and research to inform decisions regarding renewable
energy planning, leasing and development efforts on the U.S. Outer Continental
Shelf (OCS). It also consults with ocean users to select the best available
science and modeling approaches and will continue to use the latest scientific
data to identify areas on the U.S. OCS with the fewest environmental impacts
and least conflicts, while still being technically and economically feasible
for potential wind projects.
For example, BOEM is collaborating with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration’s (NOAA) National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS)
to employ a spatial model that analyses entire marine ecosystems to identify
the best areas for wind energy sites in the Gulf of Mexico, Central Atlantic
and Gulf of Maine, and offshore Oregon. This ocean planning tool is expected
to help inform BOEM’s draft Wind Energy Areas (WEAs), which will be available
for public review and comment prior to final WEA designations. BOEM and
NOAA recently collaborated to use the NCCOS tool to identify draft WEAs
in the Gulf of Mexico.
Throughout the offshore wind planning process, BOEM works with federal,
state, local and Tribal partners, as well as stakeholders and ocean users,
to gather information, data, and traditional knowledge to help identify
WEAs on the U.S. OCS that appear most suitable for commercial wind energy
activities and have the fewest apparent environmental and user conflicts.
As previously done in the Gulf of Mexico, BOEM will release draft WEAs
for public review and comment prior to designating final WEAs in the Central
Atlantic and Gulf of Maine and offshore Oregon. This update to BOEM’s
offshore wind planning process is expected to not only provide stakeholders
additional opportunities to contribute meaningful insight, but it also
creates a more transparent and inclusive process to identify WEAs.
BOEM is also improving visibility into how the agency balances and evaluates
the multiples uses and resources of the U.S. OCS. For example, BOEM has
shared the analysis and rationale used to develop recommendations for the
draft WEAs in the Gulf of Mexico on BOEM’s webpage, a practice it will
continue for other areas.
