The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) provisionally awarded two companies leases in its first ever commercial sale of acreage to develop floating offshore wind energy projects on the Atlantic Coast. BOEM collected $21.9 million from the winning bids on October 29.
Avangrid Renewables won Lease OCS-564 at $4.93 million, which consists of 98,565 acres and Lease OCS-568 at $6.24 million, which consists of 124,897 acres. Both lease areas are situated roughly 29.5 nautical miles (nm) from Massachusetts.
Invenergy NE Offshore Wind, LLC won Lease OCS-562 at $4.89 million, which consists of 97,854 acres that is located about 46.2 nm from Maine; and Lease OCS-567 at $5.89 million, which consists of 117,780 acres is around 21.6 nm from Massachusetts.
BOEM only sold half of the eight leases it offered, which if fully developed would have a potential capacity of about 13 gigawatts of offshore wind energy. Still, the leases that have been awarded don’t authorize the construction or operation of any offshore wind facilities. Instead, they provide the right to submit a project plan for BOEM’s review.
BOEM will develop an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to analyze the specific impacts of any project proposals before making decisions on whether to approve a proposed construction and operations plan. The EIS will be prepared in consultation with Tribes and appropriate government agencies, and informed by input from stakeholders, ocean users, and the public.
