The January issue of Marine Log magazine contained an interesting article on the development of offshore wind farms on the East Coast of the United States. Authority for offshore wind leasing beyond state waters is controlled by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which is a part of the Department of the Interior.
The Bureau has designated Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) off the coast of most states on the east coast and made recommendations to the respective states regarding developing infrastructure to promote wind energy. The Bureau prepared a study for the South Carolina General Assembly which recommended that South Carolina create renewable energy standards (such as North Carolina’s, which requires that utilities generate 12.5% of their energy from renewable resources by 2021), that South Carolina establish a policy to support 1,000 MW of offshore wind by 2018, and that the State set up a one-stop shop to coordinate developers’ permitting and regulatory needs to facilitate development in WEAs. No WEAs have yet been set out offshore of South Carolina.
Read the full article here.