Skip to main content

Offshore Wind Development

MCLI Recommendation: “BOEM should continue its designation of wind energy areas and prepare programmatic EIS to expedite approval of projects in those areas.”

LPDD Recommendation: “Major federal facilities on the coastlines, such as large naval bases, should consider committing to purchasing power from offshore wind facilities.”

LPDD Recommendation: “Congress should instruct reviewing agencies that unavoidable visual and aesthetic impacts do not provide a basis for denying wind energy projects.”

LPDD Recommendation: “Congress should include preference for offshore renewable energy projects in the CZMA consistency process.”

LPDD Recommendation: “States with offshore wind capacity should develop and implement processes to promptly review and act upon applications for offshore wind projects.”

Filter by

20 resources

Resource Congress

IRENA report, Nurturing Offshore Wind Markets

IRENA’s 2017 report, Nurturing Offshore Wind Markets, emphasizes international standardization of offshore wind regulation in order to harmonize requirements and enable global scale-up of offshore win...
Example States and State Governments

K&L Gates report, Offshore Wind Handbook

K&L Gates 2018 publication, Offshore Wind Handbook, includes brief summaries of recent offshore efforts in ten states, analysis of the legal framework under state authority and the Jones Act, and the ...
Example States and State Governments

Connecticut’s Offshore Wind Portfolio

In June 2019, Connecticut lawmakers passed House Bill 7156 directing the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to solicit 2 GW of offshore wind capacity.
Resource Congress

The Inflation Reduction Act

New: The Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and Environmental Defense Fund are announcing the launch of an additional resource on the Inflation Reduction Act Tracker website: the IRA litigation case ...
Resource Executive Branch

White House Ocean Climate Action Plan

In March 2023, the White House Ocean Policy Committee released an Ocean Climate Action Plan (OCAP). The plan sets three overall goals: creating a carbon-neutral future; accelerating nature-based solut...
Example States and State Governments

California AB525 (2021)

In September 2021, the California legislature passed a bill requiring the California Energy Commission (CEC) to develop a strategic plan to build 10,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2040, and 3,000 m...
Example States and State Governments

Offshore Wind Multi-State Memorandum of Understanding

In October, 2023, the state agencies responsible for energy policy in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut signed a novel agreement to coordinate on offshore wind projects. The “Offshore Wind ...
Example States and State Governments

SMART POWER

In October 2020, the governors of North Carolina, Maryland, and North Carolina signed a memorandum of understanding to form an interstate partnership to promote the development of offshore wind energy...
Resource States and State Governments

Massachusetts’ Act Driving Clean Energy and Offshore Wind

In August 2022, Massachusetts enacted an “Act Driving Clean Energy and Offshore Wind,” which builds on 2019 legislation and helps clarify how the state will meet its climate targets. Key provisions of...
Example States and State Governments

Massachusetts’ Clean Energy Grid Legislation

Massachusetts’ S.2967, An Act Promoting a Clean Energy Grid, Advancing Equity, and Protecting Ratepayers, reforms the siting and permitting of clean energy facilities, as well as the gas distribution ...
Resource Congress

Proposed Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act (2020)

Note: Elements of this proposed legislation overlap substantially with the LPDD Model Law, published Sept. 2020, Model Amendments to the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, which would require all sh...
Example States and State Governments

New York’s Offshore Wind Portfolio

New York recently awarded contracts for 1.7 GW of offshore wind in response to a 2018 NYSERDA solicitation, pursuant to the state’s existing master plan to build 2.4 GW of offshore wind. These project...
Example States and State Governments

North Carolina EO on Offshore Wind

A June 2021 Executive Order from North Carolina’s Governor set the state’s first-ever offshore wind target, calling for as much as 8 gigawatts of wind to be built off the coast of the State by 2040. T...
Example States and State Governments

California’s Offshore Wind Procurement Law

AB 1373 (2023) would allow the California Public Utilities Commission to authorize the California Department of Water Resources, which operates dams and aqueducts across the state, to sign contracts c...
Example States and State Governments

New Jersey’s Offshore Wind Portfolio

New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) announced in June 2019 the award of a contract for 1.1 GW of offshore wind. The announcement is in furtherance of the governor’s Executive Order 8, which...
Example States and State Governments

Massachusetts’ Offshore Wind Portfolio

In April 2019, the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities approved 20-year contracts for 800 MW of offshore wind at 8.9 cents/kWh. This announcement was accompanied in May 2019 by a study from t...
Resource States and State Governments

National Renewable Energy Laboratory Assessment of Offshore Wind Energy Resources for the United States

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has prepared a summary of offshore wind resource potential, based on map estimates for the contiguous United States and Hawaii.
Example States and State Governments

Maryland Offshore Wind Portfolio

2019’s Clean Energy Jobs Act increased Maryland’s offshore wind target to 1600 MW by 2030. Maryland’s Offshore Wind Energy Act of 2013 permits wind project developers to receive financial support in t...
Resource Executive Branch

BOEM’s National Offshore Wind Strategy

BOEM’s 2016 National Offshore Wind Strategy assesses the economic, technological, and administrative environment for offshore wind development, and makes 35 different recommendations to different exec...
Example States and State Governments

Virginia Offshore Wind Portfolio

In November 2018, Virginia’s State Corporation Commission approved two 6 MW offshore wind turbines. The $300 million project will be funded through existing base rates. While the Commission opined tha...