MD officials foresee more offshore wind projects with latest state-federal agreement

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Maryland officials are hoping that a new agreement with the Biden administration will lead to more potential leasing areas for offshore wind projects.

Members of Congress and Biden administration officials joined Gov. Wes Moore at the State House on Friday to sign a two-year memorandum of understanding meant to increase state and federal collaboration in developing offshore wind projects in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Officials hope the agreement between the state and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will support the supply chain, boost state and federal economic return from offshore wind developments and create jobs.

“If you look at any piece of our climate agenda, you will see offshore wind and the importance of offshore wind on each of those pages,” Moore said in his prepared remarks at an event celebrating the agreement.

The governor has said that expanding Maryland’s offshore wind production is critical to his goal of transitioning the state from being a net importer of clean energy to becoming a net exporter.

Federal officials on Friday touted the role they see Maryland playing in the Biden administration’s push to ramp up clean energy production.

Maryland’s plans for offshore wind saw a recent setback with the Danish energy company Ørsted deciding to “reposition” its Skipjack Wind project, planned to be 19 miles off the Delaware coast, just north of Bethany Beach.

Ørsted planned to continue developing construction and operations plans for federal approval, though its repositioning meant it withdrew from an energy credit agreement with Maryland.

The governor’s office has said that Moore was “disappointed” by Ørsted’s decision. The move wasn’t a total surprise, as Ørsted in November cited industry-wide supply chain disruptions and rising interest rates when it ended its Ocean Wind 1 and 2 projects in southern New Jersey.

A US Wind project about 12 miles off the coast of Ocean City has continued progressing and the federal government was expected — even before the latest agreement — to lease more land for offshore wind projects.

Officials are hoping that Friday’s agreement will strengthen “partnerships between the state of Maryland and the federal government” and reaffirm “our respective commitments to offshore wind,” a spokesperson for the Maryland Energy Administration said in a statement.

As part of Maryland’s broader climate goals, state officials aim to cut greenhouse gas emissions 60% by 2031, having 100% clean power by 2035, helping overburdened and fossil-fuel-dependent communities transition to clean energy, and ending the sale of gas-powered vehicles by 2035.

The plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions 60% by 2031 is expected to cost about $1 billion annually, according to a report the state Department of the Environment released at the end of 2023.

The costs may present a challenge for an administration with lofty goals, such as eradicating child poverty, at a time when the $63 billion operating budget is projected to have a structural deficit ballooning to several billion dollars in the coming years.

Moore has allocated $90 million for grants to install electric vehicle charging equipment in low- and moderate-income communities — hoping to help more people afford electric cars — and to pay for other measures to bring Maryland closer to meeting ambitious climate goals.

The grants include $50 million to lower carbon emissions in multifamily homes and public buildings, such as hospitals and schools, in order to help communities pay to transition from furnaces emitting greenhouse gasses to electric heat pumps.

There is also $23 million for electric-vehicle charging equipment in low- and moderate-income communities and $17 million to purchase and lease electric school buses.