Pete HahnloserAn auction is set for offshore wind power leases off the coast of Oregon later this year. The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will conduct an offshore wind energy lease sale off the coast of Brookings and Coos Bay in Southwestern Oregon. BOEM says the two areas have the potential to produce over 3.1 gigawatts of clean, renewable energy—enough to power around 1 million homes if fully developed. The auction, which takes place on October 15, is part of an ongoing process to expand offshore wind energy to minimize fossil-fuel emissions, stabilize energy prices and create well-paying jobs.
Since 2021, the department has approved the country’s first nine large-scale offshore wind projects and conducted five lease sales. These include a record-setting sale off the coast of New York and the first-ever sales off the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico coasts, as well as progress on designating new Wind Energy Areas in the Gulf of Maine.
To date, the department has approved over 13 gigawatts of offshore wind energy, which is enough to power almost 5 million homes. In April, the department unveiled a timeline for additional lease sales through 2028:
- 2024: Central Atlantic, Gulf of Maine, Gulf of Mexico and Oregon
- 2025: Gulf of Mexico
- 2026: Central Atlantic
- 2027: Gulf of Mexico and New York Bight
- 2028: California, a U.S. territory, Gulf of Maine and Hawaii
The Final Sale Notice (FSN) marks the final step before the competitive lease auction. It outlines specific provisions and conditions of the leases, auction procedures, the lease agreement format, criteria for assessing competing bids, award and appeal processes, and the steps for lease execution.
The FSN was published in the Federal Register on Sept. 3 and covers both areas:
- Lease Area P-OCS 0566 spans 61,203 acres and is about 32 miles from the shore north of Coos Bay
- Lease Area P-OCS 0567 encompasses 133,792 acres and is approximately 18 miles from the coast near Brookings.
The notice outlines several lease stipulations to foster a strong domestic supply chain for floating wind, improve flexibility in transmission planning, and create union jobs. Notably, BOEM will provide bidding credits to companies that commit to community-benefit agreements or invest in job training and strengthening supply chains.
Winning bidders will also be required to pursue project labor agreements and engage with tribes, underserved communities, ocean users and other stakeholders. Additionally, 18 lease conditions were added to meet the requirements of the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development’s concurrence with BOEM’s Federal Consistency Determination.
Issuing a lease from this sale does not mean final approval of specific development plans, which would have to pass further environmental, technical and public reviews before a decision is made on authorization of the proposed development.
BOEM continues to collaborate with the Oregon Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Task Force, comprising federal, state and local agencies, as well as tribal governments. This coordination supports broader offshore wind initiatives, including the state’s development of a roadmap to help guide the multiyear process for proposed projects.
Photo by Nicholas Doherty on Unsplash
