The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has approved the construction and operations plan for the Maryland Offshore Wind project.
This is the final approval needed for the project from the authority following the record of decision in September 2024.
The Maryland Offshore Wind Project – located approximately 16 km offshore Maryland and Sussex County, Delaware – will be able to generate over 2GW of energy for the Delmarva Peninsula, power over 718,000 homes, and support almost 2,680 jobs annually over seven years.
The approved project includes the multiple-phase construction and operation of up to 114 wind turbine generators, up to four offshore substation platforms, one meteorological tower, and up to four offshore export cable corridors. Two phases, known as MarWin and Momentum Wind, already have offshore renewable energy certificates from the State of Maryland.
The developer of the project, US Wind, is still not in the clear as the project has been sued two times and the court cases are still underway.
The Caesar Rodney Institute, a nonprofit think tank, has filed a lawsuit against Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) over plans to bring a power line ashore in Sussex County from the proposed Maryland Offshore Wind project.
The suit argued that DNREC lacks the authority to grant permits to the developer to bring transmission lines ashore at Delaware Seashore State Park. The suit requests the intervention of the Delaware Superior Court to forbid issuing permits to US Wind until mandatory requirements and procedures are met.
The first lawsuit was from Ocean City, a resort town in the US state of Maryland, which first threatened to sue the BOEM if it gave a favourable record of decision to US Wind. It later proceeded and filed a formal lawsuit together with Fenwick Island.
Ocean City mayor Rick Meehan said that the town was still proceeding with the lawsuit regardless of this latest development.
“This in no way will impact our lawsuit, it’s not going to set us back. We’re going to continue with the lawsuit, we continue to build allies joining in with us in opposition,” Meehan told local media.
Maryland State Delegate Wayne Hartman is also a supporter of the lawsuit and was surprised that BOEM decided to award the permit considering the pending lawsuit. He also pointed out that the developer needs to build a lot of infrastructure, including a proposed maintenance and operations facility in the West Ocean City Harbor.
For that, US Wind needs approval from the Worcester County Commissioners but, according to Worcester County Commissioner Joe Mitrecic, that will also be difficult to achieve as Worcester County will pursue every legal avenue to “slow it up and stop it”.
