The areas to be auctioned on August 14, 2024, by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management could generate up to 6.3 gigawatts of clean, renewable energy and power up to 2.2 million homes. This announcement is one of many steps the Department is taking to expand offshore wind energy opportunities, building on investments made by the President’s Investing in America agenda and creating good-paying jobs for American workers.
The Final Sale Notice (FSN), which will publish in the Federal Register on July 1, includes one area offshore the states of Delaware and Maryland, and one area offshore the Commonwealth of Virginia. Lease Area A-2 consists of 101,443 acres and is approximately 26 nautical miles (nm) from Delaware Bay. Lease Area C-1 consists of 176,505 acres and is approximately 35 nm from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Seventeen companies qualified to participate in the August sale.
BOEM partnered with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science to develop a comprehensive, ecosystem-based ocean planning model that assisted in the selection of the final lease areas. The FSN contains detailed information about the areas available for leasing, certain lease provisions and conditions, auction details, criteria for evaluating competing bids, and procedures for lease award, appeals, and lease execution. Details on the FSN, along with a map of the area can be found on BOEM’s website.
BOEM is including several lease stipulations and bidding credits that would reaffirm its commitment to create good-paying jobs and engage with ocean users and other stakeholders. Some of these stipulations, which are part of the FSN, include:
- Providing a 12.5% bidding credit to bidders who commit to supporting workforce training programs for the offshore wind industry, developing a domestic supply chain for the offshore wind industry, or a combination of both.
- Providing a 12.5% bidding credit to bidders who establish and contribute to a fisheries compensatory mitigation fund or contribute to an existing fund to mitigate potential negative impacts from offshore wind energy development in the Central Atlantic to commercial and for-hire recreational fisheries.
- Stipulations that lessees make every reasonable effort to enter into a project labor agreement covering the construction stage of any project for the lease areas; communication plans for Tribes, agencies, and fisheries; and semi-annual reports on engagement activities with Tribes and communities.