The Biden administration unveiled a plan Wednesday to hold up to a dozen offshore wind leases over the next several years as the industry struggles to cement itself in the U.S. [emphasis, links added]
The Department of the Interior (DOI) announced its five-year schedule for offshore wind leasing, which envisions lease sales for plots in the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, and waters off of American territories.
The agency expects to offer four sales in 2024, one each in 2025 and 2026, two in 2027, and four in 2028.
The offshore wind industry is struggling in the U.S., with developers up and down the East Coast backing out of contracts or requesting further assistance from the government as inflation, high borrowing costs, supply chain backups, and logistical snags have taken their toll on projects.
While some of the future sales announced will [occur in or near Atlantic regions] that already have offshore wind developments in place, some regions named by the DOI — like California, Hawaii, and the Gulf of Mexico — do not currently have operational, utility-scale offshore wind farms.
The administration attempted to sell three areas in the Gulf of Mexico as offshore wind leases in August 2023, but the sales flopped as only one of the parcels received any bids.
The Biden administration has previously touted its goal of having offshore wind supply enough electricity to power 10 million American homes by 2030.
Still, Reuters reported in November 2023 that the lofty target for the industry appears to be firmly out of reach. …
The offshore wind leasing schedule is far more robust in terms of the number of sales than the five-year schedule the administration finalized for offshore oil and gas activity at the end of 2023, which only calls for four sales between 2024 and 2029.
The DOI issued the bare minimum acreage for the offshore oil and gas schedule required under the terms of the Inflation Reduction Act to sell more offshore wind leases.
Read rest at Daily Caller
Biden can give all the preferential he wants to offshore leasing but the companies that actually would buy the leases and then build offshore wind turbines seem to keep cancelling on those leases because the cost of building them even with all the tax incentives (aka payola) isn’t working. But even without taxpayer subsidies offshore oil leasing actually results in real development of oil production. Who knew!?
Bird Chopping Whale Killing Eyesores off the coast do the Eco-Freaks still support Biden? in which case their allowing for stupid ideology to get in the way of their Common Sense
The average “Joe” who works for a living knows how much he is earning/bringing home and at least tries to keep his spending within limits based on his income.
This “Joe” has unlimited money to spend, “Run the printing presses a few extra hours”. And every dollar that comes off those presses reduces the purchasing power of all of the dollars already in circulation. Inflation.
If/when he comes up with the expression “I am not a crook” I’ll make a silent apology to Richard Nixon, who was as pure as the driven snow by comparison.