On December 6, the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will hold the first-ever offshore wind lease sale on the U.S. west coast, which will also be the first U.S. sale to support potential commercial-scale, floating offshore wind energy development. The California Final Sale Notice (FSN) includes three lease areas in the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area (WEA) off the coast of central California, and two lease areas in the Humboldt WEA off the coast of northern California. Together, these five lease areas cover approximately 373,268 acres and have the potential to unlock over 4.6 GW of offshore wind energy
To deliver the benefits of this lease sale to as many California residents as possible, BOEM has included lease stipulations and bidding credits. These provisions include:
- A 5% bidding credit to bidders who have executed or commit to executing a Lease Area Use Community Benefit Agreement (CBA) with one or more communities, stakeholder groups, or Tribal entities whose use of a lease area, or whose use of resources harvested from a lease area, is directly impacted by the lessee’s potential offshore wind energy development.
- A 5% bidding credit to bidders who have executed or commit to executing a General CBA with one or more communities, Tribes, or stakeholder groups that are expected to be affected by the potential impacts on the marine, coastal, or human environment (such as impacts on visual or cultural resources) from activities resulting from lease development that are not otherwise addressed by the Lease Area Use CBA.
- A 20% bidding credit to bidders who commit to invest in programs that will advance U.S. floating offshore wind energy workforce training, supply chain development, or both.
- A requirement that lessees make every reasonable effort to enter into Project Labor Agreements that cover the construction of any project proposed for their lease areas.
- A requirement for lessees to provide semi-annual reports on their outreach and engagement and to make reasonable efforts to implement their projects in a manner that minimizes and mitigates their projects’ adverse community effects.
During the lease sale, on December 6, BOEM will share round results online: https://www.boem.gov/renewable-energy/state-activities/california
