The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Administration (BOEM) will hold an offshore wind power auction on December 6 for the outer continental shelf (OCS) area in central and northern California. This will be the first time that , the west coast of the United States, has conducted offshore wind power rental sales, and the first time that the United States supports a potential commercial scale floating offshore wind power development auction.
In October this year, BOEM completed an environmental review on the potential impact of offshore wind leasing activities in the Morrow Bay Wind Energy Area (WEA), located 20 miles offshore in central California. According to the review results, offshore wind power development in the Morro Bay wind energy zone has no significant impact on environmental resources (FONSI), which laid the foundation for the first auction.
BOEM will provide five California OCS rental areas: three are located in central California and two are located in northern California. The total rental area is 373,268 acres, and it is possible to produce more than 4.5GW of offshore wind power that can power 1.5 million households.
California Final Auction Notice (FSN) will be published in the Federal Register to provide detailed information on the final lease area, the terms and conditions of the lease, and the details of the auction, and identify developers eligible for participation in the lease auction.
FSN includes several leasing regulations aimed at promoting the development of domestic supply chains in the United States, increasing the flexibility of transmission planning, and creating high-paying union jobs. Under these regulations, BOEM will provide bid credit to bidders who sign community welfare agreements or invest in labor training and supply chain development; require winners to sign project labor agreements as much as possible; and need to contact communities, marine users and institutions.
