The area being offered for leasing in Delaware waters

The US Department of the Interior has issued a Request for Interest to find potential offshore wind developers interested in building a wind farm in Delaware waters.

The move it the first step towards leasing out an area of the Outer Continental Shelf for an offshore wind farm under a framework set out by the Obama Administration.

The Request for Interest will determine whether there are any rival bids to build Delaware’s first offshore wind project, other than the existing 450MW Bluewater proposal.

If it produces no commercial alternatives, the US Mineral Management Service will proceed with a non-competitive leasing process.

US Secretary for the Interior Ken Salazar said: “We have been working closely with Delaware officials on the future development of renewable energy in federal waters off their coast.

“We are very interested in the responses our Request for Interest will generate as we push forward to meet President Obama’s goal of standing up offshore wind.”

Sec. Salazar added that his Department was pleased to be partnering Delaware’s Governor Jack Markell and his team on the offshore wind development project.

The US framework for offshore wind development was announced by President Obama last April, setting out ambitions to lease out areas for offshore wind farms in the Atlantic Ocean.

The new program, administered by Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS), also established methods for sharing revenues generated from Outer Continental Shelf renewable energy projects with affected coastal states.

“Delawareans are eager to seize the economic and environmental benefits of offshore wind and we are proud to be the first state for which MMS will issue an Offshore Wind Request for Interest,” said Governor Jack Markell.

Bluewater

Delaware officials have approved a proposal by Bluewater Wind Delaware, LLC for the construction of a new power plant to sell up to 200 megawatts of power from an offshore wind farm to the state’s largest utility, Delmarva.

Bluewater Wind Delaware, LLC is still required to apply to the Minerals Management Service (MMS) for an offshore lease, which may entail competing with other companies if competitive interest exists.

The MMS said that whether the Request for Interest leads to a competitive or non-competitive leasing process, it will include public participation through the environmental permitting process.

Delawareans are eager to seize the economic and environmental benefits of offshore wind” - Gov Jack Markell

The area included within the Request for Interest is in federal waters between the shipping routes for Delaware Bay, with the closest point to shore about 7.5 miles due east from Rehoboth Beach.

The location was selected through consultation with the intergovernmental group, the Delaware Outer Continental Shelf Renewable Energy Task Force.

The Request for Proposals also invites comments from other parties interested or affected by a potential offshore wind project in Delaware waters.

It will be published in the Federal Register on April 23, 2010.