U.S. Interior Department to Streamline Offshore Wind Projects

According to the U.S. Interior department, future offshore wind projects planned in the U.S. shores will soon go through a streamlined approval process.

Ken Salazar, Interior Secretary, said that the government is planning to shun some of the red tape procedures in the approval process to introduce an easy-to-use licensing process and make use of the nation’s vast wind potential to promote financial and electric power generation benefits.

The government has announced its plans to commence the ecological assessment process for the projected offshore wind development locations during the early part of next year. After completing the required assessment process, the government is planning to issue the required lease contracts for the offshore wind development from the end of 2011 or in the early part of 2012.

Ken Salazar also announced that the government is also speeding up the current procedure to handle the planning applications for the power transmission lines required to connect the offshore wind farms with the power grids at mainland.