OFFSHORE WIND AUCTION- It appears that offshore oil and gas rigs in the Gulf of Mexico may have some new energy producing neighbors in the near future as President Joe Biden’s administration has announced actions to expand offshore wind farms to generate electric power. A statement issued from the White House reads: For the first time, the Department of the Interior has proposed an offshore wind lease sale for three areas in the Gulf of Mexico: offshore Texas and Louisiana. These areas have the potential to generate enough clean energy to power almost 1.3 million homes. The proposed auction in the Gulf of Mexico includes an area of more than 100,000 acres in the waters off Lake Charles, and two similarly sized areas off Galveston.
Speaking via livestream connection to the Floating Offshore Wind Summit hosted by the Department of Energy last week, Governor John Bel Edwards said: Louisiana was excited at the potential for any acceleration of the development of offshore wind energy,” and explained wind-generated electric power would have a positive environmental impact on the state.
“We’ve recognized in Louisiana that we need to take action. Not just to protect our eroding coast, but to address root causes of climate change, particularly our carbon emissions and that is why Louisiana has made a commitment to have net zero carbon emissions by 2050,” said Edwards.
The proposed auction includes provisions that would incentivize new investments in workforce training and a domestic supply chain, to expand economic opportunities across offshore wind manufacturing, and port operations. It’s likely the development of off shore wind farms will create spin-off economic opportunities for service-companies as the industry develops. There will be 60 days of public comment on the Gulf of Mexico proposal before the administration will decide whether or not to move forward on a final sale.
