WASHINGTON – As part of
President Obama’s comprehensive Climate Action Plan to create American
jobs, develop domestic clean energy resources and cut carbon pollution,
the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) today
held the nation’s fifth competitive lease sale for renewable energy in
federal waters, which offered nearly 344,000 acres offshore New Jersey
for potential wind energy development.
The provisional winners of today’s
lease sale are RES America Developments Inc., which bid $880,715 for lease
area OCS-A
0498 (160,480 acres),
and US Wind Inc., which bid $1,006,240 for OCS-A
0499 (183,353 acres).
Fishermen’s Energy LLC also participated in the lease sale.
According to an analysis prepared
by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory,
if fully developed, the area leased could support about 3,400 megawatts
of commercial wind generation, enough electricity to power about 1.2 million
homes.
“Today’s auction underscores
the emerging market demand for renewable energy and marks another major
step in standing up a sustainable offshore wind program for Atlantic coast
communities,” said U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell. “Through
extensive outreach and public engagement, we reduced potential use conflicts
while moving the country closer to harnessing the enormous potential of
wind energy along the Atlantic coast.”
“We are pleased to see continued
commercial interest in the offshore wind industry, as demonstrated by today’s
lease sale. With provisional winners for both lease areas, we are optimistic
about the promise of a strong renewable energy future offshore New Jersey,
as well as for the entire nation,” said BOEM Director Abigail Ross Hopper.
“I look forward to working with the members of the New Jersey Renewable
Energy Task Force and the public on future wind energy projects proposed
for these leases by RES America Developments Inc. and US Wind Inc.”
Prior to today’s lease sale,
BOEM has awarded nine commercial offshore wind leases, including seven
through the competitive lease sale process (two in an area offshore Rhode
Island-Massachusetts, another two offshore Massachusetts, two offshore
Maryland and one offshore Virginia). Today’s announcement builds on Interior’s
work to support a sustainable offshore wind program through BOEM.
Efforts to spur responsible
development of offshore wind energy are part of a series of Obama Administration
actions to increase renewable energy both offshore and onshore, in coordination
with state, local and federal partners. Most recently, the White House
convened a summit about offshore wind, which brought together federal agencies,
state leaders, offshore wind developers, environmental groups and others
to discuss the path forward for offshore wind.
Also, in July, Secretary Jewell
and Director Hopper joined Rhode Island officials to celebrate the start
of construction on Deepwater Wind’s $225 million, 30-megawatt offshore
wind project. The facility, which will provide electricity to Block Island
and Rhode Island mainland consumers, required the Interior Department’s
approval because part of its submerged transmission cable crosses federal
waters.
The New Jersey Wind Energy Area
starts about 7 nautical miles offshore and extends roughly 21 nautical
miles seaward. To see a map of the New Jersey Wind Energy Area, visit www.boem.gov/New-Jersey.
Each lease will have a preliminary
term of one year, during which the lessee will submit a Site Assessment
Plan to BOEM for approval. A Site Assessment Plan describes the activities
(installation of meteorological towers and buoys) a lessee plans to perform
for the assessment of the wind resources and ocean conditions of its commercial
lease area.
Once a Site Assessment Plan
is approved, the lessee will have four and a half years to submit a Construction
and Operations Plan (COP) to BOEM for approval. This plan provides detailed
information for the construction and operation of a wind energy project
on the lease.
Once BOEM receives a COP from
a lessee, BOEM will conduct an environmental review of that proposed project.
Public input will be an important part of BOEM’s review process. If the
COP is approved, the lessee will have an operations term of 25 years.