As reported by ABC 7 Amarillo, The Gulf of Mexico’s first offshore wind farms will be developed off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana, the Biden administration announced last week.
One of the new wind projects announced will be developed 24 nautical miles off the coast of Galveston, covering a total of 546,645 acres.
It has the potential to power 2.3 million homes, according to the U.S. Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
The second project will be developed near Port Arthur, about 56 nautical miles off the coast of Lake Charles, Louisiana, covering 188,023 acres with the potential to power 799,000 homes.
As many as 17,500 jobs are likely to be created if the two wind farms take shape off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana, as referenced by an article on Governing.com.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management plans to begin leasing the Gulf's deep waters for offshore wind projects by 2025; turbines could be spinning in the Gulf by 2028.
Leasing in the Gulf and other federal waters off the East and West coasts is likely to encompass between 2,500 and 4,400 square miles.
The association estimates this combined lease area could support 40,000 megawatts of energy production and at least 73,000 construction jobs and 28,000 operations and maintenance positions.
