BOEM reports competitive interest in two U.S. Gulf Wind Energy Areas

While a lackluster response to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s first Gulf of Mexico offshore wind lease sale was largely attributed to the challenges of floating offshore wind, there are some U.S. Gulf Wind Energy Areas where fixed foundation wind turbines might be feasible.

That would appear to include Wind Energy Area (WEA) options C and D off the coast of southeast Texas.

Though not included in the sale that flopped they had been previously identified by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) as potential WEAs in 2021.

In July, BOEM reported that it had received an unsolicited lease request from Hecate Energy Gulf Wind LLC (Hecate Energy) to acquire commercial wind energy lease(s) on those two areas.

In response, BOEM issued a Determination of Competitive Interest in the two WEA and published a Request for Competitive Interest (RFCI) in the Federal Register seeking feedback on Hecate’s unsolicited lease request.

Yesterday, BOEM said that Invenergy GOM Offshore Wind LLC had expressed interest in WEA options C and D.

BOEM has deemed both Hecate and Invenergy to be legally, technically, and financially qualified to hold an OCS renewabl energy lease in the Gulf of Mexico. As a result of this review, BOEM has determined that competitive interest exists in the RFCI areas.

“The Gulf of Mexico remains an attractive option for offshore wind energy development,” said Gulf of Mexico Regional Director Jim Kendall. “We are excited about the future of this emerging sector in the region.”

BOEM will move forward with the competitive lease process and proceed to hold the next offshore wind lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico in 2026. The next step in that process will be to continue to analyze the other comments received in response to the RFCI and evaluate which portions of WEA options C and D, and other potential WEA options, are best suited for sale. BOEM will release draft WEAs for public input early next year.

Meantime, it is interesting to note that Invenergy’s response to the RFCI says, in part, “an offshore wind project in the Area of Interest would deploy fixed foundations, such as jacket, monopile, or gravity based, which will consider site specific metocean conditions. As the competitive selection of the foundations and turbines will necessitate site specific assessment data, the project layout and configuration will continue to be developed. Wind turbine generator units (WTGs) will be connected via inter-array cables, to be collected at 1-4 offshore substations, connected to the offshore export cable which will carry the power to shore. We expect a point-to-point configuration; however, specific details of the offshore electrical design will be developed during the design phase.”

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