SPI Insights

South Carolina – The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will hold a wind energy auction for two lease areas offshore the Carolinas on May 11. The lease areas cover 110,091 acres in the Carolina Long Bay area that, if developed, could result in at least 1.3 gigawatts of offshore wind energy, enough to power nearly 500,000 homes.

BOEM will offer a 20 percent credit to bidders if they commit to invest in programs that will advance U.S. offshore wind energy workforce training or supply chain development.

The Carolina Long Bay offshore wind energy auction will allow offshore wind developers to bid on one or both lease areas within the Wilmington East Wind Energy Area (WEA). The two lease areas include similar acreage, distance to shore, and wind resource potential.

To advance BOEM’s communication and environmental justice goals, the leases also will require lessees to identify Tribal Nations, underserved communities, agencies, ocean users, and other interested stakeholders, and report on their communication and engagement activities with these parties.

Feedback from stakeholders on its sale announcement in November 2021 combined with its scientific review prompted BOEM to reduce the acreage available for leasing by 14 percent from the areas proposed to avoid conflicts with ocean users and minimize environmental impacts.

In addition, this past fall the Biden Administration announced a new leasing path forward, which identified up to seven potential lease sales by 2025, including the upcoming Carolina Long Bay lease sale and last month’s New York Bight lease sale. Lease sales offshore California and Oregon, as well as in the Central Atlantic, Gulf of Maine, and the Gulf of Mexico are expected to follow.

A recent report indicates that the U.S.’ growing offshore wind energy industry presents a $109 billion revenue opportunity to businesses in the supply chain over the next decade.