Tetra Tech is supporting Bluewater Wind LLC (Bluewater Wind) to develop the first utility-scale offshore wind park in the U.S. Tetra Tech has been involved in all aspects of Bluewater Wind’s proposal for a 450 megawatt (MW) offshore wind park, which won a competitive bid to provide new energy resources in Delaware.

Tetra Tech selected the route for a 138 kilovolt (kV) submarine/underground cable and conducted preliminary environmental resource analysis from three alternate offshore wind park locations in Delaware Bay and in the Atlantic Ocean off the Delaware shore. Considerations included: navigation areas; cultural resource sites (mostly shipwrecks); dump sites; unexploded ordnance; cable crossings; commercial and recreational fishing areas, and environmental resources such as oyster beds, marine mammals, and significant marine habitats. We also evaluated onshore constraints such as visual impact and the construction of transmission facilities in order to avoid a national wildlife preserve, residential development, agricultural areas, wetlands and historic sites.

Tetra Tech also drafted the site nomination and application for a MMS lease for the placement of a meteorological data collection facility on the Outer Continental Shelf and has initiated comprehensive seasonal offshore avian surveys in the proposed wind park project site.

Tetra Tech’s support of the Bluewater Delaware Offshore Wind Park effort will continue through the MMS National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) environmental permitting process.

Tetra Tech is providing full environmental support services to assist Bluewater Wind LLC in its efforts to build the first large-scale offshore utility-scale wind park in the U.S.

PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS

• Submitted a proposal for a 450 MW wind park off the Atlantic coast of Delaware — which may become the first utility-scale offshore wind park in the U.S.
• Prepared MMS Permit application for a meteorological data collection facility at the wind park site — the first MMS permit application under the Energy Policy Act of 2005
• Successfully initiated offshore avian surveys in the proposed wind park project site — the first comprehensive offshore wind park avian study to be conducted in federal waters off the coast of Delaware
• Consulted with State of Delaware agencies and federal agencies, such as the USACE, MMS, USFWS, NMFS, and the USCG