Maryland Offshore Wind is a planned offshore wind farm owned by US Wind and located on 79,707 acres of federal waters 10.1 nautical miles (16.2 kilometers) off the coast of Ocean City, Maryland. The project is anticipated to have a capacity upwards of 2.2 GW and generate power equivalent to the consumption of 718,000 houses from at most 114 wind turbine generators, according to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). Offshore cables from the project will make landfall at 3Rs Beach in Delaware, and will connect to the onshore point of interconnection at Indian River Substation. BOEM estimates that over the next seven years, the project will contribute to the creation of 2,600 jobs annually.Following an approximately ten-year development process that began with securing a federal lease in 2014, the project received federal approval of its Construction and Operations Plan (COP) by BOEM on December 3, 2024. As of January 3, 2025, US Wind has completed the BOEM Environmental Review and Permitting Processes. As the tenth offshore wind project in the U.S. at a commercial scale, the Maryland Offshore Wind project is a key player in helping Maryland achieve its ambitious goal of 50% renewable energy by 2030, thereby bolstering energy security and contributing to state and federal stakeholder energy targets. It also contributes to the Biden Administration's goal of enacting 30 GW of offshore wind energy capacity in the United States by 2030.
According to BOEM, the project consisted of three separate stages, of which two had been announced. The State of Maryland signed offtake agreements to purchase the power produced from the first two phases of this project, MarWin and Momentum Wind. MarWin, expected to generate 300 MW, acquired an offshore renewable energy certificate (OREC) contract in 2017. Momentum Wind, expected to generate 808 MW, acquired an additional OREC contract in 2021. In total, it was estimated that the total project cost would be $11.5 billion.
In January 2025, the Maryland Public Service Commission awarded US Wind with additional OREC's. This update divides the project development into four phases, totaling 114 turbines with 15 MW wind energy capacity each. The commercial operation date of Phase 1 is anticipated for 2029, while Phases 2, 3, and 4 have an anticipated commercial operation date the following year, in December 2030.
Development timeline
Timeline Early Development & Planning February 2011: BOEM designates Wind Energy Area (WEA) February 2012: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) publishes Call for Information & Nominations to assess interest in Call Area February 2012: Environmental Assessment completed with finding of no significant impact (FONSI) August 2014: BOEM holds lease auction for Leases OCS-A 0489 and OCS-A 0490. US Wind wins both leases December 2014: BOEM issues two commercial Leases signed to US Wind March 2018: BOEM approves Site Assessment Plan (SAP) for Lease OCS-A 0490Environmental Review & Permitting 2017: State of Maryland awards Offshore Renewable Energy Certificates (OREC's) to US Wind for MarWin March 2018: BOEM approves request from US Wind to merge Lease areas OCS-A 0489 and OCS-A 0490 into a single lease, OCS-A 0490 August 2020: US Wind submits initial Construction and Operations Plan (COP) 2021: State of Maryland awards Offshore Renewable Energy Certificates (OREC's) to US Wind for Momentum Wind October 2023: BOEM publishes Notice of Availability (NOA) of Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) July 2024: BOEM publishes Notice of Availability (NOA) of Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) January 2025: Maryland Public Service Commission grants additional OREC's to US WindRecord of Decision & Approvals September 2024: BOEM & other federal agencies publish Notice of Availability (NOA) of joint Record of Decision (ROD) December 2024: BOEM approves final COP of Maryland Offshore Wind Project January 2025: Completion of Environmental Review and Permitting ProcessesConstruction & Installation 2029: Expected commercial operation date of Phase 1 of Maryland Offshore Wind Project December 2030: Expected commercial operation date of Phases 2, 3, and 4 of Maryland Offshore Wind Project
Lease area
Location The Maryland Offshore Wind Project will be located within Lease OCS-A 0490 on 79,707 acres of federal waters, 10.1 nautical miles (16.2 km) offshore Ocean City, MD and about 9 nautical miles offshore Sussex County, Delaware. An offshore export cable corridor will connect this Lease area to the infrastructure onshore, making landfall at 3Rs Beach in Sussex County, Delaware.
History of lease area
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) initiated the leasing process offshore Maryland by issuing a Request for Interest (RFI). This took place on November 9, 2010, and it was meant to measure if firms had interest in obtaining commercial wind leases in an offshore call area near Maryland. BOEM’s rationale for selecting to auction this area was through consultation with the Maryland Renewable Energy Task Force, an intergovernmental stakeholder group involving agencies and organizations at the federal, state, and local levels. After the location was referred to as a "call area," it was designated to be a "wind energy area," and finally designated as two "lease areas." On December 18, 2013, BOEM published a Proposed Sale Notice to auction two Lease areas in the selected location.
BOEM held the competitive lease auction process for Leases OCS-A 0489 and OCS-A 0490 on August 19, 2014, and it was the third competitive lease sale for offshore wind. It is important to mention that there were two other participating firms in the auction: Green Sail Energy LLC and SCS Maryland Energy LLC. The auction lasted 19 rounds, and the two Lease areas were auctioned off at a total price of $8,701,098 to US Wind. These leases were officially granted to US Wind by BOEM on December 1, 2014. On January 10, 2018, US Wind’s request to merge these two Lease areas was approved by BOEM, with the Lease name OCS-A 0490 preserved. This merged Lease area covers an area of 79,707 acres. After winning the bid, the Attorney General along with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) performed an antitrust review of the entire auction process.
Regulatory and permitting process Within one year of US Wind signing the lease agreement, the firm was required to submit a Site Assessment Plan (SAP). The SAP is submitted by wind project developers in an effort to gather knowledge on a potential Lease area and to determine where to place key infrastructure. The SAP provides a plan for the investigation of the conditions of the Lease area to determine possible threats to the environment or health and evaluate appropriate locations for infrastructure to be placed. Once the SAP was approved in March 2018, US Wind had up to 4.5 years to implement these assessments and submit the Construction and Operations Plan (COP) to BOEM for approval.
US Wind’s original Construction and Operations Plan (COP) was submitted on August 11, 2020, providing an initial detailed framework of the infrastructure, installation, operation, and decommissioning processes of the project. The COP was updated ten times between 2021 and 2024, with the most recently updated COP published on July 1, 2024.
The COP helped inform the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The Notice of Intent to prepare a Draft EIS was published on June 6, 2022, which launched a 30-day public comment period that provided stakeholders with in-person and virtual opportunities to provide oral and written commentary on key project components. The Notice of Availability of the Draft EIS was published by BOEM in October 2023, which then initiated a 45-day public comment period consisting of two in-person and two virtual meetings.
The Draft EIS and the subsequent comment period informed the Final Environmental Impact Statement, and the Notice of Availability of this document was released on July 29, 2024. The Final EIS served to inform the Record of Decision, which outlines several analyzed project alternatives and describes the Preferred Alternative approved by the Department of the Interior. The Notice of Availability of the Record of Decision was published by BOEM on September 5, 2024.
The Maryland Offshore Wind Project COP was officially approved by the Department of the Interior on December 3, 2024, which authorized a commercial offshore wind energy development comprising up to 114 offshore wind turbines, one meteorological tower, and four offshore substations. The power generated would be transmitted to the onshore grid via up to four export cable corridors offshore, with a planned landfall at 3Rs Beach in Delaware. The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) approved the cable landing at 3Rs Beach in December 2024. According to DNREC, US Wind will be required to perform monitoring strategies during the construction and operation phases and provide compensatory mechanisms for environmental concerns as part of this approval.
As of January 3, 2025, all Environmental Review and Permitting processes have been completed.
Finance
Offtake agreement The Maryland Offshore Wind project received ORECs from the state of Maryland in 2017 and 2021 for MarWin and Momentum Wind phases respectively. The Maryland Offshore Wind Energy Act of 2013 established the OREC program to incentivize offshore wind development by amending the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard to include projects located off the coast of Maryland. The Maryland Public Service Commission utilizes these credits to provide financial support for eligible offshore renewable projects. US Wind is authorized by the state of Maryland to sell up to 913,845 ORECs per year for 20 years for the MarWin phase and 2,513,753 per year for 20 years for the Momentum Wind phase. The ORECs will be sold at $54.17 per OREC adjusted to 2012 USD. In January 2025, the Maryland PSC announced that they had awarded additional ORECs to US Wind now totaling 1,710 MW in capacity up from 1,056 MW under the first two rounds. The first OREC schedules are expected to commence in January 2031.
Cost and finance structure US Wind is a subsidiary of Renexia, an Italian renewable energy developer that owns 80% of US Wind and is backed by Apollo Global Management through its Infrastructure Funds. Apollo has committed $265 million to acquire an equity stake in US Wind and support development costs. Additionally, Robert Strictland, a former Apollo employee with expertise in the energy and infrastructure industries, joined US Wind’s executive management as Chief Financial Officer in May 2024 as part of the partnership.
US Wind has partnered with Haizea Wind Group to develop a 100-acre monopile production facility at Sparrows Point Steel in Baltimore and has pledged to invest $150 million in port infrastructure improvements. Additionally, Hellenic Cables, a subsidiary of Belgium-based Cenergy, has also joined forces with US Wind to produce an undersea cable manufacturing facility in Maryland according to testimony from US Wind Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Grybowski. Hellenic Cables has acquired a 38-acre plot at Wagner’s Point in Baltimore with plans to commence operations by 2026.
Infrastructure development According to the Maryland Public Service Commission, the updated project timeline anticipates the commercial operation date of Phase 1 to be 2029, while Phases 2, 3, and 4 are expected to be operational in December 2030. How this update impacts the timing of the construction process, as depicted in the COP, is not clear. However, the project is expected to help contribute to Maryland's mandate of 50% of the electricity generated in the State of Maryland coming from renewable sources by 2030, according to the Clean Energy Jobs Act passed in 2019.