NRG Bluewater Wind has been granted the second federal lease to build an offshore wind farm in the US (Cape Wind was the first.
The Department of Interior and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management granted the company the right to lease 96,430 acres in federal waters about 11 nautical miles off the coast of Delaware.
NRG Bluewater is proposing a 450 megawatt project to generate electricity for over 100,000 homes.
This is the first lease under Interior’s "Smart from the Start" initiative, which seeks to environmentally responsible offshore wind development along the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf by identifying wind energy areas in a coordinated, focused approach with extensive environmental analysis, public review and large-scale planning.
The lease grants NRG Bluewater Wind Delaware LLC the exclusive right to submit wind development plans for the area.
Having a lease in hand should help NRG find investors or a buyer for its Bluewater unit. Last year, NRG called the project financially untenable because of dwindling federal incentives and the lack of investors for it.
Here’s a map of the lease area:
Loading...
It will be interesting to see if Bluewater Wind faces opposition and delays similar to that of Cape Wind. After more than 10 years, Cape Wind is still not under construction (See
http://www.everblue.edu/blog/offshore-wind-work-progress). In addition to what we are able to learn from offshore wind farms in Europe, it will be important for projects and agencies here in the U.S. to share best practices throughout the research, permitting, design and construction process. Maybe there have been lessons learned and problems solved by Cape Wind that can help other projects move forward in a safe, environmentally sensitive way?