The Interior Department completed initial environmental analysis for the SouthCoast Wind energy project, advancing one of several proposed offshore wind projects developers want to set up off the Massachusetts coast.
It’s a key step in developers’ plan to construct the offshore wind facility, and final approval of the project could add 2.4 gigawatts of renewable electricity-generating capacity to the New England grid and power some 800,000 homes.
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Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which oversees energy development in the Outer Continental Shelf, announced the completion of a draft environmental impact statement for SouthCoast Wind on Monday.
“BOEM continues to make significant progress toward achieving this administration’s vision for a clean energy future — one that will combat climate change, create jobs to support families, and ensure economic opportunities are accessible to all communities,” BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein said.
SouthCoast Wind, which would be located approximately 26 nautical miles south of Martha’s Vineyard, is a joint venture between multinational energy giant Shell and Ocean Winds.
The draft EIS analyzed developers’ plan to construct up to 147 wind turbines and two export cable corridors across more than 127,000 acres in the Atlantic Ocean.
A draft EIS does not approve a project but provides an initial analysis of a proposed project and select alternatives, which are usually modified versions of the proposed project.
BOEM’s analysis identified the benefits of the project as well as the harms, including disruptions to commercial fishing and recreational business operations that would be affected by the construction of the facility.
BOEM and the Interior Department will now take comment on the document and then issue a final environmental impact statement before approving or disapproving the project with a record of decision.
The Biden administration supports the construction of offshore wind facilities, and it set a goal of enabling the installation of 30 gigawatts of wind generation capacity offshore by 2030.
BOEM’s analysis for SouthCoast Wind comes at a volatile time for the offshore wind sector. Turbine manufacturers and project developers just got a major boost from Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act, the green energy and healthcare climate law that spends hundreds of billions of dollars to subsidize renewable energy.
But the sector is struggling with high inflation and supply chain constraints, which are making some projects less economical and threatening the offshore wind build-out President Joe Biden wants to oversee.
The sector is also under renewed scrutiny following the deaths of whales that have washed up on the shores of Atlantic Coast states, including New York and New Jersey, in recent months.
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Another whale washed up on Virginia Beach on Sunday.
Some have faulted wind development activities and called for a moratorium on such activities, although BOEM and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have said there isn’t evidence to support the notion that wind development is to blame.
