The US Department of the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has received an unsolicited lease request from Hecate Energy Gulf Wind to acquire commercial wind energy lease(s) on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) in the Gulf of Mexico.
In response, BOEM is seeking information regarding whether competitive interest exists in the areas included in Hecate Energy’s request. The areas are located off the coast of southeast Texas and had been previously identified by BOEM as potential Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) suitable for offshore wind leasing in 2021. WEA Option C totals 74,113 acres (29,992 hectares), and WEA Option D totals 68,239 acres (27,615 hectares), for a total of 142,352 acres (57,608 hectares).
As required by the OCS Lands Act, BOEM is issuing a Request for Competitive Interest (RFCI) seeking comments and specific input regarding whether there is competitive interest in commercial offshore wind energy development in the areas requested by Hecate Energy. The RFCI will be published in the Federal Register on July 29, 2024.
To comment on the RFCI, interested parties may visit www.regulations.gov and search for BOEM-2024-0039. BOEM may use comments received to further identify and refine the area(s) being considered for wind energy development and inform future environmental analyses related to the potential lease area.
If BOEM receives one or more indications of interest in acquiring a commercial wind lease from qualified entities, BOEM may decide to move forward with a competitive lease sale. If BOEM does not receive competing indications of interest from qualified companies, BOEM may move forward with a noncompetitive lease issuance to Hecate Energy.
BOEM worked with NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science to identify 14 potential WEAs via a comprehensive ecosystem-based ocean planning model as detailed in a joint report published in 2021.
The areas contained in Hecate Energy’s unsolicited lease request were identified as part of that effort and are different than the areas (WEA I-1, WEA I-2, WEA J, and WEA K) included in BOEM’s Proposed Sale Notice (PSN) for a second Gulf of Mexico offshore wind lease sale, published on March 21, 2024. The first lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico was held in August of 2023 and one lease was awarded to RWE Offshore US Gulf.
BOEM received 25 comments in response to the March 2024 PSN, with one company expressing interest in participating. As a result, BOEM is cancelling this sale due to a lack of competitive interest. BOEM may decide to move forward with a lease sale at a future time, based on industry interest.