Isra-Mart srl:US offshore wind industry prepares for launch

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The embryonic US offshore wind energy industry received a dual boost this week, as the Obama administration announced plans to accelerate the issuing of offshore wind farm leases and regulators rubber-stamped the power purchasing deal for the country's first offshore wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts.

The US Interior Department said yesterday that it will start issuing new licences as early as next year as part of an accelerated approval process designed to identify those areas off the eastern seaboard that are best suited for wind farm development.

"To fully harness the economic and energy benefits of our nation's vast Atlantic wind potential, we need to implement a smart permitting process that is efficient, thorough and unburdened by needless red tape," interior secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement.

Proposed "Wind Energy Areas" off the coast of Delaware, Virginia and Rhode Island could be announced within the next two months as the government looks to accelerate permitting processes that saw the country's first offshore wind farm – the planned Cape Wind project in Massachusetts – endure 10 years of legal wrangling before finally gaining planning permission last month.

The Interior Department said it would start work on environmental assessments for the chosen areas early next year and could begin issuing development leases by the end of 2011 or early 2012.

It also confirmed that it would simultaneously accelerate the processing of planning applications for the transmission lines that would link offshore wind farms to the mainland, such as the $5bn (£3.2bn) offshore superhighway project proposed recently by Google.

The changes represent a major boost to the US offshore wind sector, which according to a US Department of Energy report released in September could provide up to 54,000MW of capacity by 2030.

The reforms were welcomed by Denise Bode, chief executive at the American Wind Energy Association, who said that moves to rationalise the planning process were "essential for eastern states to be able to take advantage of this excellent resource".

Meanwhile, the controversial Cape Wind project edged forward this week after regulators in Massachusetts granted approval to the power purchase agreement that will see UK-based grid operator National Grid buy power from the 420MW project.

Under the terms of the deal, announced this summer, National Grid agreed to buy half the power produced by Cape Wind for about 18.7 cents per kilowatt hour for 15 years starting in 2013. The power will support National Grid's US expansion drive, which has already seen it sign up more than three million customers in the north-eastern states.