The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has completed the final environmental impact statement (EIS) for US Wind's proposed offshore wind project offshore Maryland.
The EIS outlines the potential environmental effects of the project. It involves the installation of 114 turbines, four offshore substation platforms and one meteorological tower.
It also includes up to four corridors for offshore export cables, which will come ashore at Delaware Seashore State Park.
The project's development and construction will support 2,679 jobs annually over seven years.
US Wind's project is structured in three phases, with the first two, MarWin and Momentum Wind, already having secured offshore renewable energy certificates from the state of Maryland.
The project's capacity is projected to be between 1.1GW and 2.2GW.
US Wind chief executive Jeff Grybowski stated: “We applaud BOEM for the comprehensive and thorough review of our federal permit application.
“We are now one step closer to securing all of our federal permits by the end of this year, and look forward to the day we can get steel in the water.”
The next procedural step will be the issuance of BOEM's record of decision on US Wind's construction and operations plan, anticipated in September 2024.
In preparation for the EIS, BOEM conducted three public scoping meetings in June 2022 to gather input on the environmental review process and held two in-person and two virtual public meetings in October 2023.
The meetings were held to collect feedback on the draft EIS from stakeholders including Tribal Nations, local communities, commercial fishing interests and other ocean users.
BOEM director Elizabeth Klein stated: “Our environmental review carefully considered the best available science and information provided by Tribes, other government agencies, local communities, industry, ocean users and environmental organisations.
“This vital collaboration with all our government partners and stakeholders will continue through the subsequent phases of the project.”
