Federal government to begin leasing process for offshore wind farm around Wilmington
The Department of the Interior announced Thursday that it is forging ahead with the lease of a nearly 200-square mile portion of the Atlantic Ocean off the Brunswick County coastline for the development of offshore wind.
On Nov. 1, the Department of the Interior will publish a notice in the Federal Register proposing the lease sale of a large portion of the Wilmington East Wind Energy Area, starting a 60-day public comment period that will last until January 3.
When completed, the Wilmington East area could generate more than 1.5 gigawatts of electricity, which Interior said is enough for more than 500,000 homes. By comparison, Duke Energy’s natural gas-powered Sutton Plant near Wilmington has a capacity of 625 megawatts, less than half the offshore wind area’s potential.
“It’s great news, it’s a continuation of the process that (the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management) promised a couple of months ago during the task force meeting and just brings us one step closer to more wind options for North Carolina,” Katharine Kollins, president of the Southeastern Wind Coalition, told The News & Observer, referencing a regional wind task force coordinated by the federal agency.
President Joe Biden has announced a national target of 30 gigawatts of offshore wind built by 2030, while N.C. Governor Roy Cooper earlier this year announced state targets of 2.8 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030 and 8 gigawatts by 2040.
“This is good news. Offshore wind power will help North Carolina create jobs, grow our economy and meet the carbon standard set in our new clean energy law while protecting our beaches and valuable tourism industry,” said Gov. Roy Cooper, referencing the recently signed House Bill 951.
The energy legislation requires Duke Energy to reduce carbon emissions by 70% from 2005 levels by 2030 and reach net zero emissions by 2050. But the bill also gives the N.C. Utilities Commission the ability to delay those targets back if the company is pursuing offshore energy or a new nuclear plant.
If the project proceeds, it would become the second area off North Carolina’s coast leased for wind energy development, joining a site off Kitty Hawk that was leased via an auction in 2017. The Kitty Hawk site has the potential for 2.5 gigawatts of power, according to Avangrid, the company that leased the area.
Avangrid hopes to start construction at the Kitty Hawk site, which is about 27 miles off the Outer Banks, in 2023 or 2024, the Daily Advance reported this week. According to a timeline on the project’s website, Avangrid is targeting 2026 for the start of commercial operations.
The Wilmington East project has been met with some opposition in Brunswick County, where local governments and the county commissioners have passed resolutions opposing the construction of any wind farms within 24 nautical miles of the coast in order to protect the view.
When the Wilmington East area was formed in 2015, its closest point to shore was about 15 nautical miles from Bald Head Island, the exclusive community built on an island at the mouth of the Cape Fear River. From there, the area stretches roughly 18 nautical miles southeast.
Village of Bald Head Island leaders have long expressed concerns about the impacts of wind turbines within its viewshed or being visible from the top of Old Baldy, the village’s lighthouse. In a resolution passed in May, the village council called for the same 24-nautical mile buffer that the federal government afforded both Kitty Hawk and Virginia.
The area proposed Thursday is slightly smaller than the 2015 version, but would likely still have a large portion within the proposed buffer. A map of the area was not immediately available.
BOEM is asking for feedback on potentially splitting the site into three separate areas, according to the Department of the Interior’s press release. Splitting the area into three separate leases could, Kollins said, help keep prices for the electricity generated there competitive if and when wind companies tried to find a buyer.
A lease sale of Wilmington East would not mean that the project is moving ahead, the Interior press release noted. The winner would still need to obtain a series of federal construction and environmental permits, as well as additional public comment.
Along with the Wilmington East lease proposal, Interior announced Thursday that it will start preparing an environmental impact statement for a proposed wind farm off Martha’s Vineyard and will call for information about potential new lease areas in the Gulf of Mexico
“These milestones represent great potential for addressing climate change through a clean, reliable, domestic energy resource while providing good-paying jobs,” Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland said in a written statement.
This story was produced with financial support from 1Earth Fund, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work.
This story was originally published October 28, 2021 at 3:00 PM with the headline "Federal government to begin leasing process for offshore wind farm around Wilmington."