July 25, 2023 — The first offshore wind power lease auction in the Gulf of Mexico will offer a 10 percent credit to developers who contribute of a fisheries compensation fund for commercial and charter fishermen.
The Aug. 29 auction by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will offer a 102,480-acre area offshore Lake Charles, La., and two areas off Galveston, Texas – one comprising 102,480 acres and the other 96,786 acres.
If developed to full potential, the lease areas could hold turbine arrays with nameplate ratings totaling 3.7 gigawatts of electricity, according to BOEM.
In planning the Gulf wind energy areas, BOEM excluded highly productive fishing areas after consultations with the Southern Shrimp Alliance and other fishing interests. With stipulations that BOEM has set for the bidding process, the “inclusion of a compensatory mitigation fund is a sound strategy,” the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance said Monday.