Beyond the Biden administration’s sunny outlook on prospects for a new U.S. offshore wind power industry, concerns among federal government experts continue to crop up about how building ocean turbine arrays could affect the fishing industry and the protection of endangered whales.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issued its final record of decision on 11 May to permit Vineyard Wind, the 800-megawatt project off southern New England that would be the first truly utility-scale development in U.S. waters.
So far, the only offshore wind operating in the country is at two pilot projects: the five-turbine, 30-megawatt Block Island Wind Farm off Rhode Island, and the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, which involves twin turbines with 12-megawatt total capacity. With nearly three decades of offshore wind experience in Europe, companies based there are exporting their expertise to the U.S…