U.S. to start next Offshore Wind Lease

An area of 344,000 acres (the size of merely 195,000 soccer fields) off the coast of New Jersey has been on lease by the US Department of the Interior since last week. Because of its giant size the area was divided into two parts: The North Lease Area and the South Lease Area. Interested investors are called upon to make their offers.

The area is located 7 nautical miles in front of the New Jersey coast, where the US Government is keen on finally starting to harvest offshore wind for clean electricity. “We are another important step closer to harnessing the enormous potential of wind energy of New Jersey's shores – a resource that could power more than one million homes”, US Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell, commented on the lease.

When fully developed, the area is expected to produce a capacity of 3400MW and bring power to 1.4 million homes. So it's no surprise New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez is quite delighted: “A robust offshore wind industry in New Jersey will mean jobs and less pollution. This is truly welcome news.”

The US Government is planning on leasing two more areas off the coasts of Maryland and Massachusetts for offshore wind farms in the next months. More great news, sure. But there is one question to remain: When will a first US offshore wind farm actually produce electricity?

There has been a time span of more than ten years already on planning and projecting US offshore wind projects but not a single one of them has been finished or even gone under construction until this day. Only a few test turbines have been deployed in American water so far.

Meanwhile the most ambitious of them - the Cape Wind Project - has to deal with law suits after law suits. Only last week another judge ruled out another legal dispute initiated by coastal inhabitants.

But anyway at least it looks like the project has finally collected all the money it needs. Some good news.

Another planned park - the Block Island Project - also has to deal with constant backlashes. It's been rated too expensive, too close to the coast or too close to routes of migrant birds.

The situation remains unstable. When will offshore wind farms finally start operating in the US?