With exactly one month left on its watch, the Biden administration Friday announced approval for the SouthCoast Wind project, the 11th permitting since making offshore wind a top priority in January 2021.
“When we walked in the door of this administration, there were zero approved, commercial-scale offshore wind projects in federal waters,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in announcing the decision. “Today, I am proud to celebrate our 11th approval, a testament to the commitment and enduring progress made by the hardworking public servants at the Department of the Interior.”
How long that progress endures is very much in question with the impending return of Donald Trump to the White House. During his campaign Trump repeatedly committed to ending offshore wind projects immediately.
While elated after the Nov. 5 election results, offshore wind opponents are working now to hold the next administration to that promise. One group, the REACT Alliance based on the central California coast, is organizing a Jan. 18 “national day of action” to press the incoming administration – two days before Trump’s inauguration.
On the other side will be Northeast state governors, maritime industry advocates and shipbuilders who already have developed relationships with wind developers. That could include some Republican politicians in Trump’s own party whose constituents have benefitted from jobs and contracts, notably Louisiana and Gulf of Mexico offshore operators.
If it survives the early days of a Trump administration, the SouthCoast Wind project would be expected to generate up to a 2.4 GW nameplate maximum potential. The project area covers 127,388 acres about 26 nautical miles south of Martha’s Vineyard and 20 nm south of Nantucket. If fully built out SouthCoast would include up to 141 wind turbines and up to five offshore substation platforms.
Up to eight offshore export cables could be laid to make landfall in Brayton Point or Falmouth, Mass. Compared to the original proposed project, BOEM says the selected alternative removes up to six wind turbine positions in the northeastern portion of the Lease Area, to reduce potential impacts on wildlife foraging habitat and potential displacement adjacent to Nantucket Shoals.
