Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: In a packed room in Eastham, residents call for ‘reset’ on Outer Cape offshore wind

July 22, 2024 — Outer Cape residents filled a hotel ballroom to capacity in Eastham Wednesday for a meeting on offshore wind development areas off Cape Cod’s eastern shore.

The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management hosted the information session in response to complaints that the agency has not done enough on the Outer Cape to communicate its plans. The agency has proposed eight areas for lease to developers, totaling nearly 1 million acres.

Among the concerned residents to speak were fishers, a charter boat owner, and Select Board members from at least five towns. Recurring themes included protecting Stellwagen Bank, the location of cable landings, and the role of offshore wind in reducing climate change.

Federal plans show offshore wind areas in the Gulf of Maine starting about 25 miles off Cape Cod.

Luke Feinberg, a project coordinator with BOEM, told the audience the agency does not anticipate that electrical cables would make landfall on the Outer Cape because the area does not have the infrastructure or electrical demand to support it. The closest grid connections BOEM has analyzed are in Sandwich and Plymouth.

“Just want to be very clear, that as we predict today, cables would not be landing in the Outer Cape area or going through the Outer Cape area,” he said.

Read the full article at CAI

Offshore wind meeting nets few answers on sending energy to shore

July 18, 2024 — Of the four people who spoke at a virtual July 10 public meeting held by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the federal agency in charge of leasing offshore U.S. waters, three were concerned about energy transmission lines, cooling stations and standpipes during transmission to the mainland. But the meeting only addressed a draft environmental assessment issued June 21 over effects during the leasing and assessment process, so no answers were forthcoming.

The environmental assessment shows negligible to minor effects on the ocean environment, marine mammals and other ocean animals, navigation and vessel traffic, commercial and recreational fishing, recreation and tourism and cultural, historical and archaeologic resources. The assessment covers the “routine and non-route activities associated with lease and grant issuance, site characterization activities and site assessment activities with the wind energy area.”

A fourth comment came from ocean scientist David Dow of Falmouth, retired from NOAA Fisheries Woods Hole Laboratory in Massachusetts, who raised concerns over an ocean “degraded” by climate change by the time turbines start turning, around 2032, if offshore wind development progresses as planned.

Read the full article at Mount Desert Islander

Wondering about wind farm plans east of Cape Cod? There’s a public meeting coming up

July 16, 2024 — Federal plans to open up the Gulf of Maine for offshore wind production — including in ocean areas directly east of the outermost Cape towns — will be the topic of discussion at a public information session in Eastham on Wednesday.

The Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management and the state Division of Marine Fisheries are hosting the session with the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management at the Four Points by Sheraton, 3800 State Highway, Eastham, 6-8 p.m.

A Bureau of Ocean Energy Management spokesperson said the event will be in-person only, but noted there are recordings of recent virtual meetings with the same information at tinyurl.com/gulfofmainewindinfo for those unable to attend.

Read the full article at Yahoo! News

MASSACHUSETTS: Wind Projects Make Headway

July 9, 2024 — Offshore wind energy projects continue to progress in the waters south of the Vineyard, with two new wind farms approved and construction starting on a third.

Revolution Wind reported “steel-in-the-water” in an area about 12 miles southwest of Aquinnah. This project was approved last August by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. Headed by Orsted and Eversource, the wind farm is planned to have up to 65 turbines and generate power for Rhode Island and Connecticut.

The company estimated it would start operating the project in 2025. The turbines will be visible from Aquinnah and the town will receive mitigation money.

Revolution Wind will be joined by New England Wind and Sunrise Wind, a pair of projects that recently were approved by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

Read the full article at the Vineyard Gazette

Feds taking public input on environmental impacts of offshore wind proposed in Gulf of Maine

July 8, 2024 — The Block Island wind farm off of Rhode Island is one of only two offshore wind projects currently operating in the U.S., but the Biden administration has a goal of 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030, and several states also have aggressive goals. Those targets, however, are threatened by surging costs and supply chain issues. (Scott Eisen | Getty Images)

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will hold public meetings and take comments this month on its draft environmental assessment for proposed offshore wind leases in the Gulf of Maine.

BOEM, an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior, announced in April its proposal for an offshore wind energy auction. It would include eight leasing areas off the coasts of Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, with the potential to generate up to 15 megawatts of energy to power up to 5 million homes, according to BOEM.

Read the full article at Yahoo News!

Two offshore wind projects off Martha’s Vineyard win federal approval for construction

July 2, 2024 — Two offshore wind farms immediately southwest of Vineyard Wind have received federal approval to begin construction.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has approved a construction and operations plan for New England Wind 1 and 2, formerly called Park City Wind and Commonwealth Wind.

The projects won their main federal approval back in April — a Record of Decision documenting assessments by multiple agencies. But to build, they still needed the bureau’s final approval announced today.

Read the full article at CAI

New England Wind projects slated for construction

July 2, 2024 — Construction of wind projects off the coast of the Vineyard is starting to ramp up.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) approved construction and operations plans for two major offshore wind projects recently: Ørsted’s Sunrise Wind received permission in late June, with Avangrid’s New England Wind receiving approvals this week.

Eighty-four turbines are planned for Sunrise Wind, with a capacity of producing 924 megawatts. The project could power more than 320,000 homes, according to the federal energy agency. It’s located around 18 miles southwest of Martha’s Vineyard, and will be providing power to New York.

According to Ørsted, offshore wind construction will “ramp up” later this year, and Sunrise Wind is expected to be fully operational by 2026.

Meanwhile, the federal approval for New England Wind — consisting of two projects called New England Wind 1 and New England Wind 2 — is expected to have a total power capacity of 2,600 megawatts of energy, and could power more than 900,000 homes annually, according to the federal energy agency.

Read the full article at MV Times

New England Wind Gets BOEM Approval as Pace Accelerates in US Offshore Wind

July 1, 2024 — The pace of approvals for the U.S. offshore wind sector continues to accelerate after years of review and planning. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced its second approval, this time the construction and operation plan for Avangrid’s New England Wind, in just a matter of weeks. BOEM highlights that it is working to support the development of the industry both through reviews and approvals as well as scheduling more offshore auctions.

A portion of the site was included in an April 2015 auction agreement to then Vineyard Wind. Since then, Avangrid which is part of Iberdrola, has realigned the portfolio in the wind zone off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard and gained BOEM approval to assign portions of different leases including from Park City Wind to create the projects now known as New England Wind 1 and 2. The area also incorporates the former Commonwealth Wind, the project for which Avangrid canceled its power purchase agreements in 2023.  The two projects are covered by a joint Construction and Operation plan which received final approval today after a favorable Record of Decision in April.

Read the full article at The Maritime Executive

VIRGINIA: Federal government will auction off another offshore wind site in Virginia

July 1, 2024 — The 176,000-acre lease area is located directly east of where Dominion Energy is already building the nation’s largest offshore wind farm.

The federal government announced Friday that it will soon auction off two more offshore wind energy leases in the central Atlantic Ocean — including one off the coast of Virginia just east of Dominion Energy’s wind farm already under construction.

The Biden administration said in a news release that the auction on August 14 is part of its effort to fight climate change by expanding access to renewable energy sources. Under the current administration, the Interior Department has approved eight commercial-scale wind energy projects in federal waters.

The upcoming auction includes a 101,443-acre area about 26 miles off the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Delaware.

Read the full article at WHRO

MASSACHUSETTS: As new wind lease areas are eyed off Cape Cod, leaders seek ‘a seat at the table’

June 28, 2028 —  Three ocean areas east of Cape Cod may be some of the next marine real estate to be auctioned for offshore wind energy production, with some turbines possibly distantly visible, in very clear conditions, from the Atlantic Ocean bluffs in Truro.

Located due east of Wellfleet and Truro, the areas total 363,305 acres starting about 24 miles offshore and stretching eastward. They are among eight potential lease areas — adding up to nearly a million acres — that the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has delineated for offshore wind projects off the coasts of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.

In anticipation of the sale, local legislators are working to ensure the outermost Cape towns are part of the discussion and residents are kept well-informed. The federal government is also gathering public comments.

Read the full article at Cape Cod Times