The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has identified two draft Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) off the coast of Oregon as part of the Biden-Harris administration’s goal of deploying 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind capacity by 2030 and 15 GW. of floating offshore wind by 2035.
The draft WEA, which would tap up to 2.6 GW of Oregon’s wind energy potential, covers approximately 219,568 acres on the southern Oregon coast, with its closest points ranging from approximately 18 and 32 miles offshore, the BOEM said in a news release Tuesday.
According to the BOEM, Oregon has “significant opportunities for offshore wind deployment” and the areas identified are an “opportunity to accelerate US leadership in floating technologies” due to the deep waters off the state’s coast.
“As BOEM works to identify potential areas for offshore wind development, we continue to prioritize a robust and transparent process, including ongoing engagement with tribal governments, agency partners, the fishing community and other ocean users,” he said BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein. “At the request of the Governor of Oregon and other state officials, there will be a 60-day public comment period on the draft WEAs, and BOEM will hold an intergovernmental task force meeting in addition to public meetings during the comment period. We look forward to work with the state to help us finalize offshore areas that have great resource potential and the least number of environmental and user conflicts”.
To identify the draft WEAs, BOEM said it used a comprehensive process that involved outreach to potentially affected stakeholders and ocean users, tribes and the public to identify potential offshore sites that appear most suitable for the development of floating offshore wind energy, taking into account possible impacts on local coastal and marine resources and ocean users. The agency collaborated with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Coastal Ocean Science Centers to use an ocean planning model that aims to identify and minimize conflicts, according to the release.
BOEM said the two draft WEAs reflect changes based on public, stakeholder and interagency engagement in the Oregon Call Area that the Department of the Interior released for public comment in April 2022.
BOEM will accept comments on the draft WEA until Oct. 16 and will hold public meetings to discuss next steps. The agency will also convene a meeting of the Oregon Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Task Force to discuss the draft WEAs and next steps in planning for offshore wind in Oregon, according to the release.
According to a previous Capital Press report, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek had sent a letter to BOEM in June asking the agency to pause the identification and leasing of offshore wind sites in the state to evaluate completely the impacts on the environment and the economy.
Last month, the BOEM selected three final WEAs off the coast of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, which span approximately 356,550 acres and can support between four and eight GW of energy production, according to a separate news release.
The first WEA (A-2) is 101,767 acres and is located 26 nautical miles (nm) from Delaware Bay. The second WEA (B-1) is 78,285 acres and about 23.5 nm offshore of Ocean City, Maryland. The third WEA (C-1) is 176,506 acres and is located approximately 35 nm from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay on the Virginia coast.
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