Feds give final approval to Md. offshore wind project

The federal government gave its final approval Tuesday to a plan to place 114 energy-generating wind turbines off the coast of Ocean City.

US Wind, the project developer, announced that the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has issued a permit for the company’s Construction and Operations Plan, which is the final step in the ongoing federal approval process.

But the approved project may still face an uncertain future: The Town of Ocean City has sued to block the wind energy development, charging that the federal process was flawed and arguing that the project could devastate the town’s tourist economy and real estate industry. And President-elect Donald Trump is an avowed critic of offshore wind.

“We are going to make sure that that ends on Day 1,” Trump said earlier this year, according to an Associated Press report. “I’m going to write it out in an executive order. It’s going to end on Day 1.”

But US Wind officials and other forces in the offshore wind industry celebrated the federal government’s action Tuesday.

“This is a proud moment for US Wind,” said Jeff Grybowski, CEO of the Baltimore-based company, in a prepared statement. “After more than four years of rigorous and robust analysis, we are thrilled to have secured this final BOEM approval. US Wind’s projects will produce massive amounts of homegrown energy and will help satisfy the region’s critical need for more electricity, all while supporting good local jobs.”

In addition to building and operating up to 114 wind turbine generators, the project calls for up to four offshore substation platforms, a meteorological tower, and offshore export cable corridors. US Wind envisions landing the electric cables in Delaware. The project when fully built out would produce up to 2 gigawatts electricity, enough to power more than 600,000 homes in the region.

Liz Burdock, CEO of the Oceantic Network, an industry group, said the Maryland project is the 10th commercial-scale development to have won government approval, and called the news “another significant achievement for the U.S. offshore wind industry.”