The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) Office of Renewable Energy Programs has finalized and released its Guidelines for Information Requirements for a Renewable Energy Site Assessment Plan (SAP).
As required by 30 CFR 585- Renewable Energy and Alternate Uses of Existing Facilities on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), a developer is required to submit a SAP one year after receiving an offshore renewable energy lease from BOEM.
BOEM requires the SAP to describe the initial activities necessary to characterize a lease site (e.g.,installation of meteorological towers and meteorological buoys), resource assessment surveys (e.g., meteorological and oceanographic data collection), or technology testing activities that involve the installation of bottom-founded facilities.
This document is intended to be used as guidance to the regulated community and is not intended to set information or data standards or prescribe additional requirements.
Rather, the purpose of this document is to further explain the applicable provisions of BOEM’s renewable energy regulations, found at 30 CFR 585, and provide examples of documentation that should be submitted to help BOEM evaluate whether the requirements found in the regulations have been met.