The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has completed its sixth offshore wind lease sale during the Biden-Harris administration by offering areas in the Gulf of Maine, the first commercial sale for floating offshore wind on the Atlantic Coast.
The sale, conducted by BOEM, resulted in two provisional winners on four lease areas and $21.9 million in winning bids.
Avangrid won Lease OCS-564 at $4,928,250, which consists of 98,565 acres, and Lease OCS-568 at $6,244,850, which consists of 124,897 acres. Both lease areas are approximately 29.5 nautical miles from Massachusetts.
Invenergy NE Offshore Wind won Lease OCS-562 at $4,892,700, which consists of 97,854 acres and is approximately 46.2 nautical miles from Maine, and Lease OCS-567 at $5,889,000, which consists of 117,780 acres is approximately 21.6 nautical miles from Massachusetts.
Avangrid says its lease areas alone have the potential to deliver 3 GW of wind power using floating wind technology. This part of the southwest region of the Gulf of Maine offers high wind speeds, relatively shallow waters within the limits of existing floating wind technology, and access to multiple interconnection points.
The sale resulted in $5.4 million total bidding credits, representing binding commitments by companies to invest $2.7 million in workforce training and domestic supply chain development, and an additional $2.7 million for fisheries compensatory mitigation.
BOEM will develop an Environmental Impact Statement to analyze the specific impacts of any project proposals before making decisions on whether to approve a proposed construction and operations plan.
