Request for Competitive Interest
On October 1, 2021, BOEM received an application from the State of Maine for a research lease requesting 9,700 acres on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf in a location more than 20 nautical miles off the Maine coast. If developed, the research site would consist of up to 12 floating offshore wind turbines capable of generating up to 144 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy.
On Aug.19, 2022, BOEM published a Request for Competitive Interest (RFCI) for the Gulf of Maine in the Federal Register for a 45-day public comment period. Comment submissions can be viewed by visiting Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. In the search box at the top of the webpage, enter BOEM-2022-0041 and then click “search.”
BOEM issued this RFCI because regulations require that BOEM identify whether or not there is competitive commercial interest in any area that is the subject of an unsolicited lease request.
- RFCI Federal Register Notice
- RFCI Decision Memo
- RFCI Shapefile
- RFCI Nautical Chart Map
- Maine Research Lease Application
- Additional information on Maine’s Lease Application (State’s website)
On Aug. 19, 2022, BOEM also published a separate Request for Interest (RFI), the first step in the commercial planning and leasing process. More information on that process can be found on the https://www.boem.gov/renewable-energy/state-activities/gulf-maine/gulf-maine-commercial-planning-and-leasing-process.
On Jan.19, 2023, BOEM determined there was no competitive interest in response to this notice. As such, BOEM will move forward with the research application, which could be used to inform any future commercial offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine, as well as the deployment of floating offshore wind technology nationwide. On Mar. 20, 2023, BOEM published the Notice of Determination of No Competitive Interest (DNCI) in a Proposed Research Lease Area on the Gulf of Maine Outer Continental Shelf in the Federal Register.