Biden administration announces record-breaking offshore wind lease sale off New York, New Jersey coasts
Biden administration says project will produce energy to power 2 million homes
The Biden administration on Wednesday announced a record-breaking offshore wind lease sale off of the coasts of New York and New Jersey – a lease projected to generate clean energy, power 2 million homes, and create thousands of jobs in neighboring communities.
Biden administration officials said that the upcoming lease sale in the New York Bight is expected to generate up to 7 gigawatts (GW) of clean energy, and help to create thousands of jobs in manufacturing, construction, operations, maintenance and service industries.
Officials said the sale includes innovative lease provisions that will lead to offshore wind projects being built with "union labor and Made in America materials."
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"Working together, New York, New Jersey and the federal government will build on these new lease stipulations through a new federal-state partnership that will ensure local residents--including underserved communities--benefit from new developments," an official said.
The Block Island wind farm, from Montauk Point, on Long Island, New York, on April 16, 2021. (Mark Harrington/Newsday RM via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Officials also said that a number of administration agencies are working together to drive the "rapid build-up" of offshore wind, which they described as "a brand new U.S. clean energy industry that can create nearly 80,000 good-paying jobs by 2030."
Officials pointed to the Department of Transportation's recent announcement in port investments to help develop areas that will be used to build and stage offshore wind turbine components. Officials said additional efforts are underway in the Departments of Commerce, the Interior and the Department of Energy to promote "biodiversity and cooperative ocean use" to support innovation in the supply chain.
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Meanwhile, officials said that Departments of the Interior, Agriculture, Defense, Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency are also forming a new collaboration to improve the "efficiency and effectiveness" of reviews of clean energy projects on public lands, to expand solar, onshore wind, and geothermal energy. The effort is expected to build on the Department of the Interior’s approvals over the past year of 18 onshore projects that officials say will deliver 4.175 GW of clean energy.
Officials also announced that the Department of Energy is launching a new "Building a Better Grid" initiative intended to accelerate the deployment of new transmission lines--something enabled by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
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Officials said the transmission buildout will make the grid "more reliable and resilient in the face of intensifying extreme weather," and said it is "critical" to achieving President Biden's goal of 100% carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035.
Travelers check a map below a Vestas wind turbine July 14, 2021 on Pemberton Point in Hull, Massachusetts. (Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Officials noted that the Department of Agriculture is creating a pilot program to support clean energy, to ensure that the benefits reach rural communities.
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The Biden administration is also working with local governments to speed up approvals for rooftop solar. Officials said that the Department of Energy's Solar Automated Permit Processing (SolarAPP+) tool reduced the average permit review time to less than one day.
Officials said more than 125 localities have already signed up to consider using the SolarAPP+, and said the Department of Energy is continuing to recruit additional communities across the country.