Rehoboth Beach News

The U.S. Department of the Interior said Monday that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) would conduct an environmental review of the first proposed wind energy project offshore Maryland, in line with the country's goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030.The Department will this week publish a Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Construction and Operations Plan (COP) submitted by US Wind, LLC (US Wind).

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation announced that it was recently awarded four contracts with an approximate value of $93 million. Great Lakes received two awards for coastal protection work required along the East Coast as a result of the extensive damage caused by Super Storm Sandy in 2012 and other more recent storms. The first award is a $30 million contract that involves sand replenishment and dune building from Kismet to Seaview on Fire Island, New York. Approximately 1.3 million cubic yards of sand will be dredged and pumped onto the beach. This barrier island helps protect back-bay communities along Great South Bay and Moriches Bay. Work is expected to be complete by December 2016.

Bluewater Wind, a developer of off-shore wind energy, is one of the companies competing for a long-term energy contract with Delmarva Power. Delmarva Power is requesting a proposal for an energy provider to help stabilize the price of energy in the state. Bluewater Wind is one of the companies competing for the contract, along with NRG, which has proposed expanding its coal facility on the Indian River Bay. Delmarva Power will choose an energy company in November. Bluewater Wind is proposing building as many as three wind farms that would generate a total of 600 megawatts of energy. While the price of fuel is free, the price of building the windmills will come to about $800 or $900 million. The University has been studying the wind off the coast of Delaware for 20 years.