bureau of ocean energy management

The demise of American offshore wind

August 18, 2025 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Europe has 37 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity. China is catching up rapidly. Across the globe, offshore wind is an increasingly important source of clean, renewable power. The United States had previously set ambitious goals to join the international effort. But in the aftermath of the 2024 election, offshore wind in the US is basically dead in the water, pun intended.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced at the end of July that it is rescinding all designated Wind Energy Areas on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf, effectively ending all offshore wind development across the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of Maine, the New York Bight, California, Oregon, and the Central Atlantic. Additional policy measures announced by the Department of the Interior ended special treatment for what it called “unreliable energy sources, such as wind.”

The two significant offshore wind projects underway in the US are both under serious attack by the administration and by newly emboldened special interests. Vineyard Wind in Massachusetts, with 17 turbines already in operation, is under assault by tourist town forces and fishing groups. Empire Wind, in New York, which resumed construction after efforts by Governor Kathy Hochul, is under pressure by various special interest groups that are urging President Trump to halt the project.

The current administration has very public and very pronounced antipathy towards wind power in general and towards offshore wind in particular. And this has brought to a rapid halt billions of dollars in investments and will eliminate tens of thousands of jobs.

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US offshore wind, long ‘dead,’ now really dead

Photo, posted September 15, 2016, courtesy of Lars Plougmann via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Offshore Wind In Maine | Earth Wise

June 15, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

There are currently only two small offshore wind farms operating in the United States, but there are now several more under construction or in the permitting process. Substantial wind farms are expected to come online over the next five years off the coasts of Virginia, New Jersey, Massachusetts. North Carolina, Delaware, Rhode Island, and New York. There has been a recent auction for offshore wind sites off the California coast as well.

In April, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued its Gulf of Maine Call for Information and Nominations, inviting public comment and assessing the interest in areas offshore of Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. This is the first official step in the lengthy process that leads to offshore wind development in new areas. Last year, the Department of the Interior defined an area of about 13.7 million acres in the Gulf of Maine that could end up providing energy leases for windfarm development.

The Biden administration has set a goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind electricity generation by 2030, which is enough to power more than 10 million homes. It would also create thousands of jobs across manufacturing, shipbuilding, port operations, construction, and other industrial sectors. Existing offshore wind projects have been structured to develop American-based supply chains for the offshore wind industry.

The European Union currently has over 15 gigawatts of installed offshore wind, has a target of 60 gigawatts by 2030, and 300 gigawatts by 2050. The EU has five substantial sea basins which have tremendous potential for wind energy generation. As a result, offshore wind is the centerpiece of the ambitious European Green Deal.

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U.S. moves to develop offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine

Photo, posted August 31, 2022, courtesy of Nina Ali via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

California Offshore Wind Auction | Earth Wise

January 10, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

In December, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management held the first auction for offshore wind energy leases on the West Coast. The BOEM lease sale offered five lease areas covering 373,268 acres off the central and northern California coast. The leased areas have the potential to produce over 4.6 gigawatts of wind energy, which is enough to power 1.5 million homes.

The auction drew competitive bids from five companies totaling over $750 million. The winning bidders were RWE Offshore Wind Holdings, California North Floating, Equinor Wind, Central California Offshore Wind, and Invenergy California Offshore.

RWE is a German company with subsidiaries across the globe. California North Floating is an affiliate of the Danish developer Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. Equinor Wind is a Norwegian company already heavily involved in offshore wind projects on the East Coast. Central California Offshore Wind is managed by a joint venture between Spanish and French energy companies. Invenergy is a privately held global developer and operator of renewable energy headquartered in Chicago.

The bidders will receive credits for participating in programs that support work force training programs for the floating offshore wind industry and/or the development of a US domestic supply chain for that industry.

Offshore wind off the Pacific coast has enormous potential for enhancing the country’s energy future but represents a significant challenge because the deep ocean floors necessitate the use of floating wind technology as opposed to turbines that are affixed to the sea floor.

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Biden-Harris Administration Announces Winners of California Offshore Wind Energy Auction

Photo, posted December 30, 2013, courtesy of Derek Finch via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

New York Bight Offshore Wind | Earth Wise

May 2, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Late in February, the U.S. completed the most successful offshore wind lease auction in history. The auction for rights to develop offshore wind in the New York Bight brought in a record $4.37 billion from the companies bidding for them.

The New York Bight is an area of ocean off the coasts of New York and New Jersey that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has divided into six lease areas for offshore wind development. It covers a total of 480,000 acres. The more than $4 billion secured in the auction is more than three times the revenue received from all U.S. offshore oil and gas lease auctions over the past five years.

Five out of the six winning bids have European connections in the form of various partnerships. Europe has a far more advanced offshore wind market than the U.S. with a total of 25 GW of installations as of 2020. Winning bidders included participation by RWE from Germany, British-owned National Grid, and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, among others. Chicago-based Invenergy was the only American company without a European partner to have a winning bid.

The expected installed capacity for the 6 leased areas in the New York Bight is expected to be between 5.6 and 7 GW, enough to power 2 million homes. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said capacity could be even higher.

The successful action has set the tone and expectations for auctions to come. BOEM has six more offshore wind auctions planned over the next three years. Forthcoming auctions are for areas of the Carolinas, Northern and Central California, the Gulf of Mexico, the Central Atlantic, Oregon, and the Gulf of Maine.

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New York Bight: 5 takeaways from the record-breaking offshore wind auction

Photo, posted August 13, 2013, courtesy of Larry via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Plan For New England Offshore Wind | Earth Wise

January 17, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Last December, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management auctioned off lease rights for developing offshore wind in the New England Wind Energy Area. The auction brought in hundreds of millions of dollars.

Recently, the five New England offshore wind leaseholders – Equinor, Mayflower Wind, Ørsted, Eversource, and Vineyard Wind – jointly submitted a uniform turbine layout proposal to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The five developers joined forces to respond to feedback from key stakeholders in the region including the fisheries industry, the Coast Guard, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and coastal communities.

The proposed layout specifies that wind turbines will be spaced one nautical mile apart, arranged in east-west rows an north-south columns, and the rows and columns will be continuous across all New England lease area. Independent expert analysis confirmed that this uniform layout would provide for robust navigational safety and search-and-rescue capability by providing hundreds of transit corridors to accommodate the region’s vessel traffic.

Vessels up to 400 feet in length can safely operate within the proposed turbine layout and will allow the region’s many fishing vessels to follow a wide range of transit paths as they come from many different ports and head to a variety of fishing grounds.

The New England Wind Energy Area is expected to be able to provide as much as 8 GW of electricity generation for the states in the region. Getting approval for this planned layout is one of multiple steps required before the offshore wind complex becomes a reality. Overall, states along the U.S. East Coast are seeking to procure more than 19,300 MW of offshore wind capacity through 2035

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New England offshore wind developers submit uniform layout proposal to the U.S. Coast Guard

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.