Tag Archives: Offshore Wind Auction
Election Jitters, Industry Headwinds Undermine Biden’s Final Offshore Wind Auction
A U.S. auction of offshore wind development rights in the Gulf of Maine on Tuesday drew bids for only half of the eight offered leases, for a total of just $21.9 million in high bids, in the latest sign of deep industry malaise. The sale was a stark display of the lack of industry appetite for new investment after a year of high-profile setbacks that include canceled projects, two shelved lease sales in Oregon and the Gulf of Mexico and a construction accident at the nation’s first major offshore wind project. The auction was the last before President Joe Biden, a Democrat, leaves office in January. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:25
Federal government will hold first-ever offshore wind auction off the Oregon coast in October
The federal government says it will hold Oregon’s first-ever offshore wind energy lease sale in mid-October to auction two areas where developers can build floating wind turbines. The announcement by the U.S. Department of the Interior on Thursday cements the development of offshore wind in Oregon despite vehement opposition from coastal communities, the state’s fishing industry and local tribes who say the process was rushed and ignored local input. The auction, to be held by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on Oct. 15, will include two areas totaling nearly 195,000 acres. The Coos Bay lease area consists of 61,203 acres and is about 32 miles from shore and the Brookings lease area is 133,792 acres and around 18 miles from shore. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:56
California Jobs Boom Anticipated Following Offshore Wind Auction
The efforts are, however, creating clashes with fishing fleets fretful not only of losing hunting grounds, but of broader impacts on their quarry from the new approach to renewables generation. “We’re going to throw billions of dollars into something that we don’t really know what the impact is going to be,” said Dick Ogg, a commercial fisherman of crab, albacore, black cod and rockfish. He’s based out of Bodega Bay but chases salmon from the state’s North Coast south to Morro Bay, which is another quiet part of California where an infrastructure boom is planned to get electricity from offshore wind turbines to land-based power customers. “We’d like to see a project that is smaller.” Fishing fleets nationally are angry about what they say is a lack of consultation with them by wind developers and by the federal government, with hundreds of lobstermen in Maine attending protests about plans there. Tribes, too, say their members are being ignored. >click to read< 11:13
Biden-Harris Administration Sets Offshore Energy Records with $4.37 Billion in Winning Bids for Wind Sale
The Department of the Interior announced the results of the nation’s highest-grossing competitive offshore energy lease sale in history, including oil and gas lease sales, with the New York Bight offshore wind sale. These results are a major milestone towards achieving the Biden-Harris administration’s goal of reaching 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030. Today’s lease sale offered six lease areas totaling over 488,000 acres in the New York Bight for potential wind energy development and drew competitive winning bids from six companies totaling approximately $4.37 billion. >click to read< 08:15
Europeans Sweep Record US Offshore Wind Auction
A U.S. government auction for three wind leases off the coast of Massachusetts ended on Friday with record-setting bids totaling more than $400 million from European energy giants including Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Equinor ASA. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced the sale’s three winners – Equinor Wind US LLC, Mayflower Wind Energy LLC, and Vineyard Wind LLC, at the conclusion of the two-day sale that attracted 11 bidders and lasted 32 rounds. Mayflower is a joint venture owned by Shell and EDP Renewables, a division of Portugal’s EDP. Vineyard Wind is a joint venture between Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Avangrid Inc, a division of Spain’s Iberdrola SA. Equinor is the Norwegian company formerly known as Statoil. Equinor and Mayflower each bid $135 million for their leases, while Vineyard Wind bid $135.1 million, BOEM said. >click to read<21:57
