Biden-Harris Administration Are Powering Clean Energy Push – New York Bight To Auction Wind Rights February 23rd

Washington, D.C – Clean energy gets a push as The White House issued a press release in January about projects being deployed by the Biden-Harris Administration aimed at providing clean energy that would create high-paying jobs and lower energy bill costs for Americans. Projects for Solar, Wind, Transmission, and other Clean Energy are all underway. In. addition, president Biden has been proceeding towards passing the Build Back Better Act which would be a major investment in the battle against climate change, reducing energy costs for working families, and developing a prosperous future of clean energy.

Many efforts have been taken for the goal of advancing America’s clean energy economy and creating thousands of new jobs. Some of which include holding an offshore wind lease sale in the coasts off New York and New Jersey, called The New York Bight. When implemented, this lease sale would produce 7 gigawatts of clean energy, enough to power up to two million homes.

As the greatest lease offering thus far, the New York Bight has the potential to benefit local residents and help underserved communities by creating thousands of jobs in the fields of construction, maintenance, and manufacturing. Further, the emphasis on job creation and deploying clean energy has been a main priority as Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, and New York governor Kathy Hochul have announced that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will be holding a wind auction on February 23^rd.

 

“We must chart an ambitious path toward a cleaner energy economy now more than ever, and today’s milestone further highlights New York’s commitment to reaching its offshore wind goals. This effort will require collaboration at all levels, and I applaud the Biden Administration for their action and thank Secretary Haaland and BOEM, as well as New Jersey Governor Murphy, for their partnership as we build on New York’s offshore wind energy development”, said Governor Hochul

 

Other actions taken include those by USA department of energy (DOA). As enabled by president Biden’s Bipartisan infrastructure law, the US department of energy has announced the “Building a Better Grid” initiative to advance and expediate high-capacity electric transmission lines. This program has the potential to make our grid stronger and steadier to the impacts caused by climate change, which would make president Biden’s goal of having 100% carbon-pollution free electricity by 2035 and a zero emissions economy by 2050 more attainable. Moreover, last September, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced that it is investing up to 464 million in renewable energy to encourage rural communities, as well as businesses lower energy costs in 48 states, and Puerto Rico.

 

 “We recognize that lowering energy costs for small businesses and agricultural producers helps to expand economic development and employment opportunities for people in America’s rural towns and communities. The investments we are announcing today demonstrate how the Biden-Harris Administration has put rural communities at the heart of climate action and climate-smart solutions”, said secretary of agriculture, Tom Vilsack.

 

The president’s Bipartisan infrastructure law, signed last September, is the nation’s largest infrastructure and economy investment. With a total of $550 billion, investments in roads, mass transit, bridges, and water infrastructure are all initiated and will develop from 2022 to 2026. In addition, The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will fund the building of new transmission lines that would create clean energy resources to supply cost-effective and reliable electricity against severe weather conditions and natural disasters.

The New York Bight auction will allow offshore wind developers to bid on six lease areas – the most areas ever offered in a single auction – as described in BOEM’s Final Sale Notice. Leases offered in this sale could result in 5.6 to 7 gigawatts of offshore wind energy, enough to power nearly 2 million homes. As offshore wind technology continues to advance, these areas may have the potential to produce even more clean energy.

Secretary Haaland was joined by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and New York Governor Kathy Hochul to outline their shared vision for developing a robust offshore wind domestic supply chain that will deliver benefits to residents of New York and New Jersey and the surrounding region, including underserved communities. This collaboration will serve as a model for future engagement and establish the U.S. as a major player in the global offshore wind market.

 

Additional Information & Resources On New York Bight

• New York Bight Final Sale Notice
• A Shared Vision on the Development of an Offshore Wind Supply Chain
• New York Bight Commercial Leases
  • OCS-A-0537
  • OCS-A-0538
  • OCS-A-0539
  • OCS-A-0541
  • OCS-A-0542
  • OCS-A-0544
    • BOEM has made minor edits to lease OCS-A 0544 to conform to the Final Sale Notice’s provision for setback requirements applicable to that lease.  See section 6.4 of the New York Bight Final Sale Notice Decision Memorandum. Prior stipulations 8.1 and 8.2 of Addendum C were potentially ambiguous with respect to the 2 nmi setback required for lease OCS-A-0544 and BOEM has thus reformatted the substance
      of those provisions into Stipulation 8.1, which now provides as follows:

• New York Bight Final Sale Notice Decision Memorandum
• New York Bight Final Sale Notice Response to Comments
• Bidders Financial Form
• EFT Payment Instructions
• Maps
  • New York Bight Final Lease Areas
  • New York Bight Lease Areas with Nautical Background
  • Changes to lease areas from PSN to FSN
  • New York Bight Final Lease Area Shapefile

Public Engagement

On January 19, from 10am-12pm EST, BOEM will be hosting our fifth and final meeting on the New York Bight leasing process targeted towards the fisheries community.  Following up on our commitment during prior meetings in the summer of 2021, the purpose of this meeting is to describe how we arrived at the Final Lease Areas, provide an overview of the feedback we received and how BOEM has responded.  Please register for the meeting using the following link: https://cbuilding.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEkce2pqj0qE9SVem4vxYuoCMWbI8JpIcZw.

New York Bight Final Sale Notice Lease Area Descriptive Statistics 

The following table contains descriptive statistics of the New York Bight lease areas. The energy calculations are based on a conservative power ratio of 3MW/sqkm – BOEM acknowledges that as these projects are developed and offshore wind technology efficiencies are gained the energy densities may increase.

	OCS-A 0537	OCS-A 0538	OCS-A 0539	OCS-A 0541	OCS-A 0542	OCS-A 0544	Total
Acres	71,522	84,332	125,964	79,351	83,976	43,056	488,201
Developable Acres	71,522	79,438	114,277	76,139	76,894	43,056	461,326
Installation Capacity (MW)[1]	868	964	1,387	924	934	523	5,601
Homes powered[2]	303,911	337,548	485,586	323,530	326,738	182,954	1,960,268
Power Production (MWh/yr)[3]	3,042,588	3,379,340	4,861,411	3,238,998	3,271,116	1,831,628	19,625,081
Max Depth (meters[m])	61	63	51	51	54	46	—
Min Depth (m)	50	37	31	31	32	40	—
Closest distance to NY (nautical mile [nmi])	38	47	56	65	69	20	—
Closest distance to NJ (nmi)	53	36	32	27	35	36	—

^[1] Megawatts (MW) based upon 3MW/sqkm

^[2] Based upon 350 homes per MW

^[3] Formula = Capacity (MW) * 8760 (hrs/yr) * 0.4 (capacity factor)