The Bureau of Offshore Energy Management (BOEM) offered a research lease to the state of Maine on May 29. The location of the research lease, however, is not the site requested by the Mills administration in its 2021 application to construct a small offshore wind farm to research floating offshore wind technology and its deployment in the Gulf of Maine. The state of Maine has 30 days to accept, reject or request modifications to the lease.
According to BOEM, the agency offered the research lease because its Environmental Assessment “finds that the issuance of a wind energy research lease within the proposed lease area offshore Maine, and related site characterization and site assessment activities, would have no significant impact on the environment”.
BOEM offered an alternate location for the research lease because it determined that the 9,700 acre lease area requested by the state of Maine in 2021, located in the northeast corner, posed a significant navigational conflict with the Portland Maine Fairway identified by the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) in its 2023 Port Access Route Study. BOEM worked with the USCG and the state of Maine to identify the new 15,000-acre site located 28 nm from southeast of Portland, located in the southwest corner, offered to the state of Maine. This site is closer to Three Dory Ridge and Platts Bank. The state will be limited to 9,700 acres within the lease area to construct and operate 10 floating offshore wind turbines capable of generating up to 144 MW of electricity.
If the state of Maine accepts the research lease, the Maine Public Utilities Commission must negotiate a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the developer. The developer will then move forward with surveys, site assessment, and other work that is required prior to seeking federal approval to construct the project. The developer must submit a Site Assessment Plan, a Construction and Operations Plan, and a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Environmental Review. This process takes years and will include multiple opportunities for public review and comment.
The state is partnering with developer, Pine Tree Offshore Wind (a part of Diamond Wind), and the University of Maine.
Research Array Timeline
October 1, 2021 – BOEM received an application from the State of Maine for a research lease requesting 9,700 acres located more than 20 nautical miles off the Maine coast.
August 19, 2022 – BOEM published a Request for Competitive Interest (RFCI) for the Gulf of Maine. Regulations require that BOEM identify whether or not there is competitive commercial interest in any area that is the subject of an unsolicited lease request.
January 19, 2023 – BOEM announced its “Determination of No Competitive Interest” for a research lease proposed by the State of Maine.
May 4, 2023 – BOEM published in the Federal Register the Gulf of Maine’s Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Assessment (EA) for a wind energy research lease on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf offshore Maine.
July 21, 2023 – the Notice of Availability (NOA) for the Draft EA for the proposed Gulf of Maine Research Lease published in the Federal Register.
May 29, 2024 – the Notice of Availability (NOA) for the Final EA for the proposed Gulf of Maine Research Lease published in the Federal Register.
First Offshore Research Projects Underway
Governor Mills established the Maine Offshore Wind Research Consortium in 2021. In February 2024 the Consortium released its Maine Offshore Wind Research Strategy to guide studies at the research array. Those projects will:
Explore opportunities and challenges that floating offshore wind poses to current and future uses in the Gulf of Maine, including how to best support co-existence with the fishing industry.
Identify methods to avoid and minimize impacts on ecosystems and existing uses of the Gulf of Maine.
Investigate ways to realize cost efficiencies in commercialization of offshore wind to reduce potential costs to ratepayers.
Support conservation actions and projects that support species and habitats impacted by OSW development.
Three projects have been awarded funds to begin this year: exploring approaches to fisheries coexistence with floating offshore wind; inventorying baseline data on socioeconomics of Maine fishing communities; and sonar seafloor mapping in key areas of the Gulf of Maine.
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