BOEM issues Maine a floating offshore wind energy research lease

U.S. federal ocean regulators have announced the execution of a lease with the State of Maine for almost 15,000 acres located on the outer continental shelf offshore Maine. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management calls the agreement "the nation's first floating offshore wind energy research lease." 

According to BOEM, the lease area includes approximately 14,945 acres, an area of sea sufficient to host up to 12 floating offshore wind turbines collectively capable of generating up to 144 megawatts of renewable energy. BOEM says the research lease will let Maine and stakeholders "conduct in-depth studies and thoroughly evaluate floating offshore wind as a renewable energy source" and "evaluate its compatibility with existing ocean uses and assess its potential effects on the environment, supply chains, and job creation."

BOEM issued the Maine lease through a process that began with the State's October 2021 application for a lease. In 2023, BOEM issued a Determination of No Competitive Interest for the area, enabling BOEM to issue Maine the lease. Maine has described the floating offshore wind research array as "a key priority for the State that will help fulfill the objectives of the Maine Offshore Wind Roadmap by advancing critical research and innovation to develop offshore wind responsibly."

As a research lease, the State of Maine or its designated operator Pine Tree Offshore Wind, LLC will engage in research regarding environmental and engineering aspects of the proposed project, to be made public and for use in informing future commercial-scale floating offshore wind projects in the region. According to BOEM, construction activity on the research array is not likely to occur for several years and will require additional permitting.

Maine PUC inquires into storm costs and grid resilience

Citing "increasing storm frequency and severity, and escalating storm restoration costs", Maine utility regulators have opened an inquiry to obtain information about the problem and how it could be addressed.

On July 25, 2024, the Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC) issued a Notice of Inquiry in docket 2024-00191. According to that notice:

Maine is experiencing increasing storm frequency and severity, and escalating storm restoration costs. While utilities are developing their grid plans and doing the vulnerability assessments and preparing resiliency/mitigation plans, the Commission opens this inquiry to look for some shorter-term efforts to reduce the impact of storm damage to the system and study ways in which Maine’s electric utilities may more proactively address escalating storm costs.

The PUC's notice includes a list of questions and prompts for comment by September 4, 2024. Some questions ask how other states are addressing storm- and resilience-related costs. Others seek information on how Maine utilities might behave differently -- for example, leveraging data systems to prioritize resilience upgrades, shifting away from wood poles, or changing tree trimming protocols and other vegetation management programs. The questions also ask about what "resilience" means and how it can be quantified.

Under PUC practice, an inquiry is a relatively informal proceeding initiated by the PUC to gather information. After the PUC collects information through an inquiry, it can use what it learned to inform a subsequent adjudicatory proceeding (like an investigation) or a rulemaking. 

Outside this inquiry, a recently enacted law requires each of Maine's investor-owned transmission and distribution utilities to develop "a 10-year integrated grid plan designed to improve system reliability and resiliency and enable the cost-effective achievement of the State’s greenhouse gas reduction obligations and climate policies." The utilities must file their proposed grid plans by January 12, 2026.

A separate statute requires each utility to file a 10-year climate change protection plan that includes specific actions for addressing the expected effects of climate change on the utility's assets needed to transmit and distribute electricity to its customers. The first climate change protection plans were due on December 31, 2023, and must be updated every three years.