UPDATE, 12:42 p.m. EST: The auction has officially closed, and BOEM will be announcing the provisional winners during a 1:00 press call.
Two years ago, a Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) auction for the rights to develop a wind farm in federal waters off Long Island, N.Y., shattered records with a final bid of more than $42 million from Statoil. Now, currently in its second day of bidding, BOEM’s auction for three lease areas offshore Massachusetts has reached a whopping $140 million mark, as of press time.
The three lease areas being auctioned are located 19.8 nautical miles from Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., 16.7 nautical miles from Nantucket, Mass., and 44.5 nautical miles from Block Island, R.I. If fully developed, the areas being offered could support approximately 4.1 GW of offshore wind, which would be enough electricity to power nearly 1.5 million homes, according to BOEM’s estimates.
The auction began at 9:00 a.m. EST on Thursday and, as of press time, is now in its 32nd round, with two lease areas at $135 million and one at $140 million. North American Windpower will continue to follow the auction and provide updates as it continues. Updates from BOEM can also be found here.
