Quiero saber acerca de...

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 208 / Monday, November 1, 2021 / Notices support BOEMs achievement of the following OCS Lands Act policies:
i. Expeditious and orderly development 43 U.S.C. 13323;
ii. Safe operations conducted by welltrained personnel 43 U.S.C. 13326;
iii. Any activity is carried out in a manner that provides for safety 43
U.S.C. 1337p4A; and iv. Fair return 43 U.S.C.
1337p2A.
PLAs may support the achievement of these goalsincluding expeditious development and potentially more years of operating fee receipts.
viii. Stakeholder and Ocean User Engagement Summary: BOEM proposes that the lessee include a stakeholder and ocean user engagement summary as part of their progress reporting requirements see section 2.2 of addendum C of the lease. This summary would include a description of all existing users, engagement activities with those users during the reporting period, and a description of efforts to minimize any conflict between the existing users and the lessee.
VIII. Lease Financial Terms and Conditions This section provides an overview of the required annual payments and financial assurances under the lease.
Please see the proposed lease for more information.
a. Rent: Pursuant to 30 CFR
585.224b and 585.503, the first years rent payment of $3 per acre is due within 45-calendar days after the lessee receives the lease copies from BOEM.
Thereafter, annual rent payments are be due on the anniversary of the effective date of the lease the Lease Anniversary. Once commercial operations under the lease begin, BOEM
will charge rent only for the portions of the Lease Area remaining undeveloped i.e., non-generating acreage. For the 127,865-acre Lease Area of OCSA
0545, the rent payment will be $383,595
per year until commercial operations begin.
If the lessee submits an application for relinquishment of a portion of its leased area within the first 45-calendar days after receiving the lease copies from BOEM and BOEM approves that application, no rent payment would be
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1

Annual Operating Fee= 1,622 MW

::h VerDate Sep<11>2014

18:03 Oct 29, 2021

Jkt 256001

PO 00000

X

8,760

due on the relinquished portion of the lease area. Later relinquishments of any portion of the lease area would reduce the lessees rent payments starting in the year following BOEMs approval of the relinquishment.
The lessee also must pay rent for any project easement associated with the lease. Rent commences on the date that BOEM approves the COP or modification thereof that describes the project easement as outlined in 30 CFR
585.508. Annual rent for a project easement that is 200 feet wide, centered on the transmission cable, will be $70
per statute mile. For any additional acreage, the lessee must pay the greater of $5 per acre per year or $450 per year.
b. Operating Fee: For purposes of calculating the initial annual operating fee payment under 30 CFR 585.506, BOEM applies an operating fee rate to a proxy for the wholesale market value of the electricity expected to be generated from the project during its first 12 months of operations. This initial payment will be prorated to reflect the period between the commencement of commercial operations and the Lease Anniversary.
The initial annual operating fee payment will be due within 45 days of the commencement of commercial operations. Thereafter, subsequent annual operating fee payments will be due on or before the Lease Anniversary.
The subsequent annual operating fee payments will be calculated by multiplying the operating fee rate by the imputed wholesale market value of the projected annual electric power production. For the purposes of this calculation, the imputed market value will be the product of the projects annual nameplate capacity, the total number of hours in the year 8,760, the capacity factor, and the annual average price of electricity derived from a regional wholesale power price index.
For example, the annual operating fee for a 1,622 megawatt MW wind facility operating at a 40 percent capacity i.e., capacity factor of 0.4 with a regional wholesale power price of $40 per megawatt hour MWh and an operating fee rate of 0.02 would be calculated as follows:

hrs year
x 0.4 x
Power Price x 0.02 = $4,546,790.40

Frm 00082

Fmt 4703

Sfmt 4725

E:FRFM01NON1.SGM

01NON1

EN01NO21.002

turn reduces compliance burdens on the lessee and BOEM. Accordingly, the lease stipulations would no longer specify exclusion zones for sound propagation from geophysical survey equipment, vessel strike avoidance measures, or protected species observer procedures, all of which would be specified in the outcome of the most upto-date consultation.
iv. Site Characterization: BOEM
updated language regarding survey plans and pre-survey meetings section 2.1 of addendum C to the proposed lease. BOEM proposes to make the presurvey meeting between the lessee and BOEM optional at BOEMs discretion.
BOEM also recommends removing the requirement for lessees to meet with BOEM prior to holding Tribal presurvey meetings. The change would allow lessees more flexibility scheduling Tribal pre-survey meetings, possibly holding them earlier and allowing greater opportunity for Tribal input.
v. Siting Conditions: BOEM included a lease stipulation that outlines situations when lessees may not construct surface facilities.
vi. Operating Fee: BOEM proposes several simplifications to the operating fee consistent with the recently proposed changes for future New York Bight leases. The changes include eliminating the inflation adjustment, moving from a weighted peak and offpeak power price to a simple hourly average, and eliminating the 10 percent limit to the capacity adjustment every 5
years. These changes are designed to simplify the operating fee calculation and are expected to have minimal impact on operating fee revenues paid by the lessee. BOEM also proposes simplifying the capacity formulation and utilizing the nameplate capacity in the fabrication and installation report FIR for the operating fee calculation.
vii. Project Labor Agreements: BOEM
proposes a lease stipulation which would require the lessee to make reasonable efforts to enter into a project labor agreement PLA covering the construction stage of any project proposed for the leased area. The proposed stipulation is responsive to Executive Order 14008 and would
60279