Governors' Wind Energy Coalition

 BOEM Director Amanda Lefton provided an outlook for the offshore wind industry on Thursday, noting the administration plans to hold lease sales off the Carolina and California coasts as soon as next year. Lefton, speaking virtually at the Business Network for Offshore Wind’s annual International Partnering Forum, also said the agency intends to hold lease sales for the New York Bight by the end of this year or early next year. “These efforts and others like it demonstrate a sea change for offshore wind,” she said. Lefton added the Biden administration has already advanced six projects toward environmental review in the last seven months, with more expected to come later this year.

The message was echoed by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm in her own remarks: “I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that this administration is going to be the best partners that you have ever had in the federal government,” she said. “Because of course under the president, President Biden, America is open for business on offshore wind.” The Biden administration has sought to add 30 gigawatts of offshore wind generation to U.S. coastal waters by 2030 as part of the president’s broader climate goals.

Granholm previewed that the Energy Department is planning to release its annual offshore wind market report next Monday. “While I can’t give you the full details, I will tell you that the pipeline of offshore wind projects enjoyed incredible growth just over the last year,” she said. “We know that costs are going down, we know that wind turbine technologies just keep getting better and with the president’s Build Back Better agenda, we’re going to be able to keep that growth going and move those projects from the pipeline out to the coastline.”