4C is now TGS

We are excited to announce a significant milestone in 4C Offshore's journey. Our integration into the TGS family marks the beginning of a new era in offshore wind market intelligence.

Learn what this means for you!

BOEM finalises wind energy area in Gulf of Maine

By: Chloe Emanuel 19/03/2024 BOEM

General Windfarms

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has announced it finalized its designation of a Wind Energy Area (WEA) in the Gulf of Maine. The Final WEA has the potential to support generation of 32 GW of clean energy, surpassing current state goals for offshore wind energy in the Gulf of Maine: 10 GW for Massachusetts and 3 GW for Maine.

BOEM has published a notice in the Federal Register on March 18 announcing its intent to prepare an environmental assessment of potential impacts from offshore wind leasing activities in the WEA. The notice will initiate a 30-day public comment period. Another public comment period would occur if BOEM decides to move forward with a lease sale in the WEA.

BOEM finalized the WEA after extensive engagement with the states of Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, Tribes, local residents, ocean users including the fishing community, federal government partners, and other members of the public. Based on the feedback received about natural and cultural resources and current ocean uses, the WEA represents an 80% reduction from the area BOEM initially identified for possible leasing and a 43% reduction from the Draft WEA.

The resulting WEA avoids important areas for lobster fishing, North Atlantic right whale habitat, and other important fishing areas and habitats. Additionally, in response to initial conversations with Tribal Nations located within Maine, the WEA strives to avoid a majority of the historical and present-day fishing grounds of those Tribes.

BOEM will seek to avoid or minimise remaining ocean use and resource conflicts in subsequent phases of the leasing process. BOEM will continue to consult with all Tribal Nations, the fishing industry, and other stakeholders who have an interest in the region to understand their concerns with potential offshore wind energy development within the WEA.
During two rounds of analyses to produce the Draft and Final WEAs, BOEM leveraged the ecosystem-based ocean planning model designed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS). That model incorporates the best available data on Gulf of Maine natural resources, ocean industries like fisheries and energy production, and national security activities to identify areas with high wind energy resource potential and fewer potential impacts to other ocean users and sensitive environmental resources.

This comprehensive approach provided valuable insights about the seascape and its uses and facilitated greater transparency and positive coordination with government partners and ocean stakeholders through direct engagement and incorporation of their feedback into the NCCOS model. See this video to learn more about the process.

On Oct.19, 2023, BOEM announced a public comment period on the Draft WEA and three secondary areas for further analysis. BOEM held over a dozen virtual and targeted in-person meetings and received over 300 unique comments. After reviewing feedback from stakeholders and the public, BOEM worked with NCCOS on a refined model to further reduce the size of, and conflicts within, the Draft WEA before identifying a Final WEA.

For more information about offshore wind farm projects across the globe, click here.

Premium

4C Offshore Premium, our most popular subscription, gives you full access to use the 4C Offshore WebApp which includes exclusive offshore wind, transmission and vessel reports, news and downloads.

Request a 30 minute Demo

BOEM finalises wind energy area in Gulf of Maine

Back to News

Trending News!