Offshore WINDPOWER Conference & Exhibition 2018

Sessions Speakers Buzz

e-Poster: Evaluating Benefits of Offshore Wind in NEPA (Room Station 1)

16 Oct 18
12:05 PM - 12:10 PM

Tracks: Building Public, Stakeholder & Political Support, Posters

BOEM must comply with NEPA prior to approving a lessee’s construction and operation plan for a wind project on the OCS. NEPA analyses (EAs or EISs) typically focus on adverse impacts to the environment. However, NEPA analyses also need to include environmental and socioeconomic benefits analyses. AECOM was contracted by BOEM to identify resources and describe technical approaches that can be used by authors of EAs and EISs to capture the beneficial effects that can accrue from the development of renewable energy sources on the OCS. Benefits can accrue in three primary areas: system benefits (benefits to the electric system), socioeconomic benefits (including economic impact analysis), and environmental benefits. The evaluation of environmental benefits is based on the methods for looking at environmental impacts, but with an eye toward environmental benefits, both from a project itself and from associated changes that may occur in the overall electrical generation system.