BOEM sets next offshore wind lease sale date

JANUARY 18, 2017 — The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) says that 122,405 acres offshore Kitty Hawk, North Carolina will be offered in a commercial wind lease sale on March 16, 2017.

The Kitty Hawk lease area begins about 24 nautical miles from shore and extends 25.7 nautical miles in a general southeast direction. Its seaward extent ranges from 13.5 nautical miles in the north to .6 of a nautical mile in the south.

“This is a significant milestone for North Carolina and our country as we continue to make progress on diversifying our nation’s energy portfolio,” says BOEM Acting Director Walter Cruickshank. “BOEM looks forward to overseeing a successful lease sale in March, to contribute to the region’s energy supply and assist local governments in achieving their goals for energy independence and job creation.”

BOEM has also identified nine companies that it has deemed legally, technically and financially qualified to participate in the upcoming lease sale:

• Avangrid Renewables, LLC
• Enbridge Holdings (Green Energy) LLC
• Shell WindEnergy Inc.
• Northland Power America Inc.
• Wind Future LLC
• Outer Banks Ocean Energy, LLC
• PNE Wind USA, Inc.
• Statoil Wind US LLC
• wpd offshore Alpha LLC

The Final Sale Notice contains relevant information, such as deadlines and milestones for bidders, the area available for leasing, lease provisions and conditions, auction details, criteria for evaluating bids, award procedures and lease execution.

Under the terms of the Final Sale Notice, which will be published in the Federal Register on January 19, the lease area will be auctioned as Lease OCS-A 0508.

In September 2015, BOEM published a revised environmental assessment (EA) for commercial wind lease issuance and related activities within the three North Carolina Wind Energy Areas (WEA) (i.e., Kitty Hawk WEA, Wilmington East WEA, and Wilmington West WEA) offshore North Carolina. The EA considers reasonably foreseeable environmental and socioeconomic impacts from issuing a renewable energy lease and conducting site characterization (e.g., surveys) and assessment (e.g., installation and operation of meteorological towers and buoys) activities in the designated offshore area.

As a result of the analysis in the revised EA, BOEM issued a Finding of No Significant Impact, which concluded that reasonably foreseeable environmental effects associated with the issuance of commercial wind leases and related activities would not significantly impact the environment.

The Wilmington East and Wilmington West WEAs, due to their proximity and shared attributes, have been coupled with the planning and leasing process for the South Carolina Call Areas. More information about South Carolina’s leasing process can be found here: http://www.boem.gov/South-Carolina/.