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The Department of the Interior wants to deploy offshore wind turbines in the Gulf of Mexico.
- The U.S. targets the deployment of 30GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030.
- The largest offshore wind project in the country was approved in May.
The US Department of the Interior has stated that it is considering offshore wind energy development on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) of the Gulf of Mexico as it targets 30 GW of offshore wind by 2030.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) intends to publish a request for interest (RFI) for offshore wind development and other renewable energy technologies. The request will focus on the Gulf of Mexico’s western and central planning areas; offshore Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama. The responses to the RFI will influence the government’s renewable energy leasing process in the Gulf.
The BOEM notes that the Gulf of Mexico can lead the clean energy transition and hopes the oil and gas industry will be a part of the shift, especially as they have committed to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The BOEM has leased about 1.7 million acres in the OCS for offshore wind and has 17 commercial leases on the Atlantic. In May, the first commercial-scale offshore wind farm in the US, the 800-MW Vineyard Wind project off the coast of Massachusetts, was approved.