Network welcomes BOEM’s draft wind energy area in Gulf of Maine

The Business Network for Offshore Wind, the leading organization working to accelerate offshore wind energy deployment and build a dedicated domestic supply chain, welcomes yesterday’s release by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) of a new draft Wind Energy Area (WEA) in the Gulf of Maine. The draft WEA covers over 3.5 million acres offshore Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.

In total, this area has the capacity to generate up to 40 GW of offshore wind energy. While the total area of installed projects will be lower, this draft WEA allows for significant progress on the U.S. goals of 30 GW of wind energy by 2030 and 15 GW of floating wind energy by 2035.

With waters deeper than those used for previously approved East Coast offshore wind projects, development in the Gulf of Maine will consist almost entirely of floating wind turbines, providing a significant boost to the U.S.’s domestic floating offshore wind supply chain.

The following statement can be attributed to John Begala, vice president of federal and state policy at the Business Network for Offshore Wind:

"We welcome today’s advancement of draft offshore wind areas in the Gulf of Maine and the continued progress of this administration to hold seven auctions before 2025. This commitment to create a pipeline of future auctions has brought increased confidence to the U.S. market, resulting in billions in new supply chain and infrastructure investments. Advancing leasing in the Gulf of Maine sustains that confidence and unlocks new investment in the U.S. floating offshore wind supply chain, giving our nation the opportunity to catch up with the global market in this emerging field. Floating offshore wind is also crucial to New England states, whose demand for new, clean power generation is predicted to grow from current levels as they move to decarbonize their economies.”