Gulf of Maine Draft Wind Energy Area with BOEM Secondary Areas for Further Analysis
What's New?
On Oct. 19, 2023, BOEM announced a Draft Wind Energy Area (Draft WEA) in the Gulf of Maine and an accompanying a 30-day public comment period. The Draft WEA covers approximately 3,519,067 acres offshore Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, ranging from approximately 23 - 120 miles off the coast.
BOEM used a comprehensive process to identify an area that appears most suitable for floating offshore wind energy leasing and potential development, taking into consideration possible impacts to coastal and marine resources and ocean users. BOEM collaborated with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) to use an ocean planning model that seeks to identify and minimize conflicts.
The Draft WEA represents a 64% reduction from the Call Area, which BOEM announced for comment in April 2023. The Draft WEA has a combined capacity of over 40 GW (assuming a power density of 3 megawatts per square kilometer), which exceeds the current combined offshore wind planning goals for the Gulf of Maine states: 10 GW for Massachusetts; 3 GW for Maine. BOEM anticipates future reductions to the Draft WEA, while striving to retain sufficient area to meet the States’ planning goals.
BOEM has also identified three Secondary Areas for Further Analysis (Secondary Areas). These areas are not part of the Draft WEA; however, BOEM seeks additional comment from the public on whether these areas (or a certain portion of them) should receive consideration as Final WEAs, and if so, under what recommended conditions.
BOEM is providing this opportunity for comment on Secondary Areas to be transparent about two areas that the model indicated were highly suitable, as well as to give the State of Maine and its stakeholders additional options for consideration and comment given the State’s offshore wind renewable energy goals and the considerable distance of the Draft WEA from potential points of interconnection in Maine.
On October 13, 2021, Secretary Haaland announced an ambitious offshore wind leasing strategy for 2021-2025, which includes the goal of holding a commercial lease sale within the Gulf of Maine in 2024.
In advance of the May 19, 2022 Gulf of Maine Task Force Meeting, BOEM released the Gulf of Maine Planning Area. The Planning Area is the starting point for the commercial leasing process, and will be significantly reduced through the ensuing planning and leasing phases. The first reduction will occur through a Request for Interest (RFI). Beginning with an RFI allows BOEM to gauge commercial interest in offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine, while also maximizing the opportunity for the public to engage and provide input. BOEM prepared the RFI Development Framework to outline BOEM’s approach to developing a draft RFI and to receive feedback from the Task Force.
The discussion of wind energy development in the Gulf of Maine advanced in 2019, following the request from Governor Sununu of New Hampshire to create the Gulf of Maine Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Task Force. The first Task Force meeting was held on December 12, 2019.
Request for Interest (RFI)
Gulf of Maine RFI Area
On August 19, 2022, BOEM published a Request for Interest (RFI) for the Gulf of Maine in the Federal Register. The RFI was the first step in BOEM’s commercial planning and leasing process to identify the offshore locations that appear most suitable for development, taking into consideration potential impacts to resources and ocean users. The purpose of the RFI was to gauge interest in the development of commercial wind energy leases within the RFI Area, which consists of 13,713,825 acres in the Gulf of Maine. The RFI Area followed the RFI Development Framework shared at the May 2022 Task Force meeting, and mirrors the Draft RFI Area, with the exception of the expanded RFCI area, which is described in detail on the Research Lease Application tab.
Through the RFI, BOEM sought feedback from stakeholders, industry, Tribes, and others regarding the location and size of specific areas they wish to be included in (or excluded from) a future offshore wind energy lease sale, along with other planning considerations. This information will be used to narrow the area to be considered for offshore wind development as BOEM moves forward with the Gulf of Maine planning and leasing process.
Note: BOEM created this Data Inventory to share a current snapshot (i.e., at the time of RFI publication) of the publicly available data layers it is currently considering as part of the planning process. BOEM is actively working with Federal and state partners to identify and request other known data sources in the Gulf of Maine. The creation of this Inventory is in response to feedback received at the May 2022 Task Force meeting, and is intended to help inform the public in providing comments on the RFI. BOEM will periodically update this document as more data become available and are incorporated into the planning and analysis.
BOEM also published a separate Request for Competitive Interest (RFCI) in response to the State of Maine’s research lease application. For more information on that process go to Research Lease Application tab.
RFI Nominations
In response to the Request for Interest (RFI), BOEM received nominations of areas of interest from 5 developers. Each of the parties listed below has been legally, technically and financially qualified.
BOEM used information gained through public comment and industry nominations on the RFI, as well as spatial analysis advanced in partnership with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Center for Coastal and Ocean Science (NCCOS) and reduced the original RFI area by about 27% to 9.9 million acres. The reduced area, or draft Call Area, can be viewed below.
On Apr. 25, 2023, BOEM announced the publication of the Gulf of Maine’s Call for Information and Nominations (Call). This Call invites public comment on, and assesses interest in, possible commercial wind energy development in areas offshore Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. The Call also requests input on data for the Wind Energy Area model that is being developed in collaboration with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) for the next phase of the planning process.
The final Call Area mostly mirrors the draft, with an exception along the southern boundary, as BOEM removed approximately 160,000 acres from future consideration to avoid Georges Bank. BOEM recognizes that some conflicts remain within the Call Area. The decision to maintain a broad Call Area is intentional, as BOEM seeks to maximize the use of an ecosystem-wide suitability model. Application of this powerful spatial analysis tool, developed in partnership with NCCOS, will assist in the identification of the least conflicted draft Wind Energy Areas, while still striving to meet the Biden-Harris administration and Gulf of Maine states’ renewable energy goals.
Gulf of Maine Call Area Company Nominations
During the comment period, BOEM received nominations of areas of interest from 7 developers. Each of the parties listed below has been legally, technically and financially qualified.
On Oct. 19, 2023, BOEM announced a Draft Wind Energy Area (Draft WEA) in the Gulf of Maine and an accompanying a 30-day public comment period. The Draft WEA covers approximately 3,519,067 acres offshore Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, ranging from approximately 23 - 120 miles off the coast.
On October 1, 2021, BOEM received an application from the State of Maine for a research lease requesting 9,700 acres on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf in a location more than 20 nautical miles off the Maine coast. If developed, the research site would consist of up to 12 floating offshore wind turbines capable of generating up to 144 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy.
Request for Competitive Interest
On Aug.19, 2022, BOEM published a Request for Competitive Interest (RFCI) for the Gulf of Maine in the Federal Register for a 45-day public comment period. Comment submissions can be viewed by visiting Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. In the search box at the top of the webpage, enter BOEM-2022-0041 and then click “search.”
BOEM issued this RFCI because regulations require that BOEM identify whether or not there is competitive commercial interest in any area that is the subject of an unsolicited lease request.
The determination of no competitive interest in the RFCI area does not guarantee that the State of Maine will receive a research lease. The next steps for processing the research application include publishing a Determination of No Competitive Interest in the Federal Register and initiating an environmental review of potential impacts from offshore wind leasing activities associated with the research lease.
Environmental Assessment
On May 3, 2023, BOEM announced the publication of the Gulf of Maine’s Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Assessment (EA) for a wind energy research lease on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf offshore Maine in the Federal Register on May.4,2023. The publication opened a 30-day public comment period which closed on Jun. 5, 2023.
On July 21, 2023, the Notice of Availability (NOA) for the Draft EA for the proposed Gulf of Maine Research Lease published in the Federal Register. The following documents are available for viewing:
During the comment period, BOEM held two virtual public meetings for the Draft EA. For more information, see the Gulf of Maine Research Lease Virtual Meeting Room.
Finding of Effect
Under the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), BOEM is conducting a Section 106 review associated with the wind energy research lease on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf offshore Maine. After providing the public the opportunity to review and comment, BOEM provided a Finding of Effect (FOE), November 2, 2023. The document is available for viewing:
