The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is improving its processes for identifying future offshore wind energy sites in the Gulf of Mexico, Central Atlantic and Gulf of Maine, and off the Oregon coast.
The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is improving its processes for identifying future offshore wind energy sites in the Gulf of Mexico, Central Atlantic and Gulf of Maine, and off the Oregon coast.
BOEM is collaborating with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the 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. BOEM and NOAA recently collaborated to use the NCCOS tool to identify draft WEAs in the Gulf of Mexico.
BOEM is also improving visibility into how the agency balances and evaluates the multiples uses and resources of the US OCS. It 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.
Meanwhile, the BOEM has accepted 307 highest valid bids from Lease Sale 257 in the Gulf of Mexico, totalling $189,888,271. BOEM originally held the lease sale in November 2021; a federal judge invalidated the results in February.
