The Department of the Interior recently announced the results of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) offshore wind sale off the coast of North Carolina in the Carolina Long Bay area.
The lease sale offered two lease areas totaling 110,091 acres in the Carolina Long Bay area about 20 miles off the coast of Bald Head Island, North Carolina. The two lease areas have the potential to support at least 1.3 GW of offshore wind — enough wind energy to power about 500,000 homes.
The results are a milestone toward achieving the Biden-Harris administration’s goal of reaching 30 GW of offshore wind by 2030, and North Carolina’s goal of reaching 2.8 GW of offshore wind by 2030.
The lease sale drew winning bids from two companies totaling about $315 million.
According to The Special Initiative for Offshore Wind’s 2021 Supply Chain Contracting Forecast, offshore wind is projected to create more than $109 billion in economic output, with approximately $90 billion of that output focused in the manufacturing supply chain.
“We are incredibly excited to work with Total Energies Renewables USA and Duke Energy Renewables Wind to bring offshore wind development to the Carolinas,” said Southeastern Wind Coalition’s Katharine Kollins. “The announcement of two provisional lease winners increases the opportunity for economic development to support the offshore wind industry in North Carolina and across the East Coast.”
“Investments from two developers means increased supply-chain investment and recruitment, workforce development and thousands of good-paying jobs, and infrastructure development that will support other North Carolina industries,” Kollins said.
More info www.sewind.org
