The three wind turbines in the deepwater wind project are located in the Atlantic Ocean near Block Island, Rhode Island. The Biden administration is ready to test the market’s demand for wind power in coastal areas of Louisiana and other Gulf states.
The three wind turbines in the deepwater wind project are located in the Atlantic Ocean near Block Island, Rhode Island. The Biden administration is ready to test the market’s demand for wind power in coastal areas of Louisiana and other Gulf states.
The Biden administration is taking another step towards wind energy projects aimed at generating electricity off the coast of Louisiana and other Gulf countries.
The U.S. Department of the Interior will issue a so-called “request of interest” to private companies later this week to gauge the market’s interest in and feasibility of offshore wind power projects in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Biden government is promoting the construction of 30 GW of wind power offshore by the private sector by 2030.
“This is an important first step in understanding what role the Gulf might play,” said Debu Harand, the Minister of the Interior.
The request seeks companies interested in coastal development projects in Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama. The federal government is primarily interested in wind power projects, but is also seeking information about any other renewable energy technologies available on the market.
After the information request is issued on June 11, there will be a 45-day public comment window to determine the interest of private companies in these projects.
However, there is a long and difficult road ahead before the turbine blades spin away from the beaches of the Gulf Coast. The upfront cost of offshore wind farms and transmission infrastructure is still higher than that of solar energy. Demand from regional utility companies, including Entergy, is tepid, and the company has rejected requests to invest in offshore wind power on the grounds of economic downturns in the past.
Nevertheless, renewable energy companies still have reason to be hopeful. Two years ago, the Ocean Energy Administration told the New Orleans City Council that the Gulf Coast region—especially Texas, Louisiana, and Florida—has the highest wind power capacity in the United States. Federal regulators say that the water in many areas is shallow enough to build large wind farms anchored to the seabed.
For many years, solar energy has been the slogan of the members of the New Orleans City Council, aiming to develop a more sustainable energy future for New Orleans…
At that time, BOEM sold a lease contract for an East Coast wind power project worth nearly US$500 million, but has not yet awarded any lease contract in the Gulf region. A large 800 MW wind turbine project near Martha’s Vineyard is expected to be connected to the grid this year.
The Louisiana company has acquired the expertise of Block Island Wind Farm, a 30 MW project built near the coast of Rhode Island in 2016.
Mike Celata, the New Orleans BOEM regional director, described the move as the “first step” of the federal government’s ability to leverage the expertise of the entire offshore oil industry.
The federal government has leased 1.7 million acres of land for offshore wind power and has signed 17 valid commercial lease contracts with companies-mainly along the Atlantic coast from Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras.
Adam Anderson was standing on a narrow sidewalk that stretched into the Mississippi River and pointed to a new 3,000-foot-long concrete strip.
Post time: Aug-28-2021