There are three operating offshore wind farms in the United States, and several more are in permitting or under construction. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management studies potential sites in federal waters for offshore wind energy development and leases sites to developers, who work with state regulatory agencies to interconnect and market their electricity.
The following table lists offshore wind farms that have begun construction in federal waters. Some of these projects have begun delivering power to the grid, with some of their turbines already coming online.
The following table lists offshore wind farm areas (by nameplate capacity) that are in various states development for the Outer Continental Shelf in U.S. territorial waters of the East Coast of the United States, where a Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) wind energy area lease has been secured and have gained at least some required regulatory approval before construction can begin. Distances are approximated and generally represent closest point of turbine array to shoreline, while acreage represents size of total lease area, which may be shared, and not the blocks within them allocated for the wind farm.
Projects that have received operations approval from BOEM are highlighted in blue.
In October 2021, the Biden administration approved the initiation of mapping out potential lease areas along the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico coasts. In March 2022, five areas off the coast of California were defined for lease. An auction in December 2022 leased the areas for a total of $757 million.