First offshore wind auction in the Gulf of Mexico announced

The US Department of the Interior will hold the first-ever offshore wind energy lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico.

The areas being auctioned include a 102,480-acre area offshore Lake Charles, Louisiana, and two areas offshore Galveston, Texas, one comprising 102,480 acres and the other 96,786 acres.

These areas have the potential to generate approximately 3.7GW and power almost 1.3 million homes with clean, renewable energy.

The auction will take place on 29 August 2023 by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).

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“The Gulf of Mexico is poised to play a key role in our nation’s transition to a clean energy future,” said BOEM director Elizabeth Klein.

“Today’s announcement follows years of engagement with government agencies, states, ocean users, and stakeholders in the Gulf of Mexico region. We look forward to continued collaboration in the years to come.”

The Proposed Sale Notice for offshore wind energy development in the Gulf of Mexico was announced earlier this year. This was followed by a 60-day comment period to confirm lease stipulations.

According to BOEM, these stipulations include:

• Bidding credits to bidders who commit to supporting workforce training programmes developing a domestic supply chain,
• Bidding credits for establishing and contributing to a fisheries compensatory mitigation fund or contributing to an existing fund to mitigate potential negative impacts to commercial and for-hire recreational fisheries caused by offshore wind energy development in the Gulf of Mexico, and
• Requiring that lessees provide a regular progress report summarizing engagement with Tribes and ocean users potentially affected by proposed offshore wind energy activities.

BOEM expects to review at least 16 construction and operations plans of commercial, offshore wind energy facilities by 2025, which would represent more than 27GW of clean energy for the nation.

Renewable energy potential of the Gulf of Mexico

In order to identify the renewable energy technologies best suited for development in the Gulf of Mexico, BOEM and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) conducted a study.

The study revealed that in terms of offshore technologies, offshore wind held the greatest potential. The Gulf has adequate wind resources, 638GW of offshore wind potential according to NREL.

The study highlights that offshore wind technology innovation will be needed, however, to optimize energy capture in the lower wind areas, as well as to increase understanding of hurricane risk to the technology.