New York Bight

New York Bight Final Sale Notice map
New York Bight Lease Areas

What's New?

On July 15, 2022, BOEM published a Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare the New York Bight Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS), which will analyze potential impacts from wind energy development activities in the NY Bight region. The 45-day public comment period closed on August 30, 2022 and comments can be viewed at the following website: https://www.regulations.gov/docket/BOEM-2022-0034/comments.

During the public comment period, BOEM hosted three virtual public meetings where the public could learn more about the project, ask questions, and provide oral testimony.

The virtual public meetings were held on:

More information, including instructions for commenting, is available in the Virtual Meeting Room.

On July 15, 2022, BOEM published a Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare a draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for the New York Bight Lease Areas. These lease areas total over 488,000 acres in the New York Bight for potential offshore wind energy development. As part of this scoping process, BOEM is asking stakeholders, organizations, Federal agencies, and Tribal, State, and local governments to submit comments on the scope of the draft PEIS, including potential alternatives and draft mitigation measures.  BOEM has extended the public comment period for the New York Bight PEIS. The PEIS public comment period now ends at 11:59 p.m. eastern time on August 30, 2022. 

More information, including instructions for commenting, is available in the Virtual Meeting Room

New York Bight Final Sale Notice Lease Area Descriptive Statistics

The following table contains descriptive statistics of the New York Bight lease areas. The energy calculations are based on a conservative power ratio of 3MW/sqkm - BOEM acknowledges that as these projects are developed and offshore wind technology efficiencies are gained the energy densities may increase.  

 

OCS-A 0537

OCS-A 0538

OCS-A 0539

OCS-A 0541

OCS-A 0542

OCS-A 0544

Total

Acres

71,522

84,332

125,964

79,351

83,976

43,056

488,201

Developable Acres

 71,522

 79,438

 114,277

 76,139

 76,894

 43,056

461,326

Installation Capacity (MW)[1]

 868

 964

 1,387

 924

 934

 523

5,601

Homes powered[2]

 303,911

 337,548

 485,586

 323,530

 326,738

 182,954

1,960,268

Power Production (MWh/yr)[3]

 3,042,588

 3,379,340

 4,861,411

 3,238,998

 3,271,116

 1,831,628

19,625,081

Max Depth (meters[m])

61

63

51

51

54

46

--

Min Depth (m)

50

37

31

31

32

40

--

Closest distance to NY (nautical mile [nmi])

38

47

56

65

69

20

--

Closest distance to NJ (nmi)

53

36

32

27

35

36

--

[1] Megawatts (MW) based upon 3MW/sqkm
[2] Based upon 350 homes per MW
[3] Formula = Capacity (MW) * 8760 (hrs/yr) * 0.4 (capacity factor)

NY bight WEA Map
Final WEA Map

Unsolicited Lease Request Offshore New York

On December 30, 2016, PNE Wind USA, Inc. submitted an unsolicited lease request for 40,920 acres offshore New York.

Call for Information and Nominations

BOEM published a Call for Information and Nominations (Call) on April 11, 2018 to obtain nominations from companies interested in commercial wind energy leases within the proposed area in the New York Bight. This region represents an area of shallow waters between Long Island (to the north and east) and the New Jersey coast (to the south and west).

View the NY Bight Call Area in the Northeast Ocean Data Portal.

Public Engagement

More information can be found on the New York Activities page: https://www.boem.gov/renewable-energy/state-activities/new-york-activities

Wind Energy Areas

In March 2021, BOEM identified nearly 800,000 acres as Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) in the New York Bight, between Long Island and the New Jersey coast. The agency initiated an environmental review, with public input, on these areas in federal waters for potential offshore wind leasing.

The goal of BOEM’s Area Identification process is to identify the offshore locations that appear most suitable for wind energy development taking into consideration coexistence with ocean users. As part of this process, BOEM removed areas of highest conflict from consideration. BOEM received input from the public and other governmental agencies through the Call for Information and task force meetings as part of the process. The New York Bight WEAs are located in an area of shallow waters between Long Island (to the north and east) and the New Jersey coast (to the south and west).

Department of Defense (DoD) Assessment

DoD’s Military Aviation and Installation Assurance Siting Clearinghouse (Clearinghouse) has been leading DoD’s review of the New York Bight Wind Energy Areas in support of BOEM’s efforts to deconflict the area.  In June 2021, the Clearinghouse provided an update to their December 15, 2020 assessment by providing feedback on lease areas proposed in the Hudson South Wind Energy Area.  In summary, the Clearinghouse has refined its analysis and indicated that a majority of the area that was initially designated as incompatible for wind energy development could be suitable for development with site-specific stipulations.  A more complete summary of the updated assessment can be found on our website here: https://www.boem.gov/renewable-energy/state-activities/ny-bight-dod.

Proposed Sale Notice

BOEM published a Proposed Sale Notice (PSN) in the Federal Register on June 14, 2021. It provides detailed information about potential areas that could be available for leasing, proposed lease provisions and conditions, auction details (e.g., criteria for evaluating competing bids and award procedures), and lease execution.  The proposal included up to eight lease areas in the New York Bight for potential commercial wind energy development. The lease areas have the potential to unlock over 7 gigawatts of offshore wind energy, powering over 2.6 million homes and supporting thousands of new jobs.

The comments received in response to this notice can be found here:  https://www.regulations.gov/search/comment?filter=boem-2021-0033

Final Sale Notice and Shared Vision for the New York Bight

On Jan. 12, 2022, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced that BOEM would hold a wind energy auction on Feb. 23, 2022, in the New York Bight. 

Secretary Haaland was joined by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and New York Governor Kathy Hochul to outline their shared vision for developing a robust offshore wind domestic supply chain that will deliver benefits to residents of New York and New Jersey and the surrounding region, including underserved communities. This collaboration will serve as a model for future engagement and establish the U.S. as a major player in the global offshore wind market. 

Commercial Leases

On  Feb. 23, 2022, BOEM held an offshore wind auction for six lease areas in the New York Bight.  The lease sale drew competitive winning bids from six companies totaling approximately $4.37 billion.

New York Bight PEIS 

On July 15, 2022, BOEM published a Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare a draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for the New York Bight Lease Areas. These lease areas total over 488,000 acres in the New York Bight for potential offshore wind energy development. As part of this scoping process, BOEM is asking stakeholders, organizations, Federal agencies, and Tribal, State, and local governments to submit comments on the scope of the draft PEIS, including potential alternatives and draft mitigation measures. BOEM has extended the public comment period for the New York Bight PEIS. The PEIS public comment period now ends at 11:59 p.m. eastern time on August 30, 2022. 

More information, including instructions for commenting, is available in the Virtual Meeting Room.

New York Bight Final EA

On December 16, 2021, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced the availability of a final environmental assessment (EA) that assesses the potential impacts of the issuance of commercial and research leases within the identified wind energy areas (WEAs) of the New York Bight, and granting of rights-of-way and rights-of-use and easement in the region.  

The EA considers potential environmental consequences of the Proposed Action, which includes site characterization activities (i.e., biological, archeological, geological, and geophysical surveys and core samples) and site assessment activities (i.e., installation of meteorological buoys). The EA also considers project easements associated with each potential lease issued and grants for subsea cable corridors in the New York Bight.

BOEM has considered the evaluation of the potential effects of the Proposed Action and has determined that the Proposed Action would not cause any significant impacts, and implementing the Proposed Action does not constitute a major federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment within the meaning of Section 102(2)(c) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.

New York Bight Draft EA

On August 10, 2021, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced the availability of a draft environmental assessment (EA) that assesses the potential impacts of the issuance of commercial and research leases within the identified wind energy areas (WEAs) of the New York Bight, and granting of rights-of-way and rights-of-use and easement in the region.

The EA considers potential environmental consequences of site characterization activities (i.e., biological, archeological, geological, and geophysical surveys and core samples) and site assessment activities (i.e., installation of meteorological buoys). The EA also considers project easements associated with each potential lease issued and grants for subsea cable corridors in the New York Bight.

The availability of this EA initiated a 30-day public comment period. The public comment period was subsequently extended to September 23, 2021. During the public comment period, BOEM hosted two virtual meetings to allow the public to learn more about the draft EA, ask questions, and provide oral testimony.  

The virtual meetings were held on:

  • Wednesday, August 25, 2021 at 5:00 PM Eastern
  • Thursday, August 26, 2021 at 1:00 PM Eastern

For more information, please see: NY Bight Virtual Meeting Room.  

Notice to Stakeholders

On March 29, 2021, BOEM released a Notice to Stakeholders (NTS) announcing its intent to prepare an Environmental Assessment (EA) to consider the potential environmental consequences of site characterization activities (i.e., biological, archeological, geological, and geophysical surveys and core samples) and site assessment activities (i.e., installation of meteorological buoys) associated with issuing commercial and research wind energy leases in the WEAs, project easements associated with each lease issued, and grants for subsea cable corridors in the New York Bight. BOEM received approximately 3,000 comment letters during the 30-day scoping period (Docket number BOEM-2021-0021), which are available at https://www.regulations.gov/document/BOEM-2021-0021-0002/comment.