The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will hold two Renewable Energy Task Force meetings regarding offshore wind development off the coasts of South Carolina and New Jersey.
South Carolina Renewable Energy Task Force meeting, scheduled for 17 May, will be held via webinar and will focus on updating Task Force members on public input received in response to the “Call for Information and Nominations” and “Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Assessment” that BOEM published in November 2015 .
BOEM will also provide an update on its decision to realign the North Carolina Wilmington East and West Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) with the South Carolina Planning Process. Three Wind Energy Areas were identified offshore North Carolina comprising a total of over 307, 000 acres. These include Kitty Hawk, Wilmington West, and Wilmington East WEAs.
Renewable Energy Task Force meeting in New Jersey will be held on 19 May, when BOEM will provide an overview of New Jersey offshore wind auction results from 9 November, 2015 .
Additionally, BOEM will describe the contents of the commercial leases, including the environmental stipulations, and next steps in the leasing process. The lessees for New Jersey leases OCS-A 0498 and OCS-A 0499 will be introduced to the Task Force and will be available to answer any questions, BOEM informed.