One of the installed turbines at the Vineyard Wind farm. (Photo courtesy of Avangrid)
Four offshore wind lease areas in the Gulf of Maine sold for nearly $22 million during an auction Tuesday morning.
The U.S. Department of Interior awarded two lease areas to Avangrid Renewables, LLC and the other two to Invenergy NE Offshore Wind. One of the lease areas is a little more than 50 miles off the coast of Maine, while the others are closer to Massachusetts.
Together, they have the potential to power more than 2.3 million homes, according to the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
Final lease areas for offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine. (Credit: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management)
“This successful lease sale is a momentous step forward for Maine’s goals to tackle climate change and build a new clean energy industry centered on our proud maritime and shipbuilding heritage,” said Jack Shapiro, climate and clean energy director for the Natural Resources Council of Maine.
The almost 98,000-acre area near Maine was awarded to Invenergy NE Offshore Wind for nearly $4.9 million.
Avangrid Renewables, a branch of Central Maine Power’s parent company, won its two lease areas for $4.9 million and $6.2 million.
Tuesday’s auction was the first commercial sale for floating offshore wind on the Atlantic Coast, according to a news release from the Department of Interior.
“More powerful storms, warming oceans and rising sea levels, and higher temperatures caused by our overheating planet are threatening our lives and livelihood,” said Kate Sinding Daly, Senior Vice President for Law and Policy at the Boston-based Conservation Law Foundation. “In order to secure affordable, clean energy, improve public health, and strengthen our economy, we must continue to responsibly develop offshore wind.”
“This successful lease sale in the Gulf of Maine is an impressive sign that the momentum of responsibly developed offshore wind energy is not slowing despite uncertainty in the future of federal policy,” said Amber Hewett, senior director of offshore wind energy at the National Wildlife Federation.
That uncertainty hinges on next week’s presidential election. While the Biden administration has spent billions of dollars on clean energy projects, former President Donald Trump has opposed offshore wind development and indicated he would halt its development if sent back to the White House.
The Sweden-based company Hexicon originally planned to participate in the auction, but told Maine Morning Star in early October that it decided to cancel all offshore wind activities in the U.S. and focus on markets in South Korea, Italy, South Africa and its home country.
Earlier this year, BOEM outlined eight offshore wind lease areas off the coast of Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire — including the four that were auctioned Tuesday. The agency will hold another offshore wind lease sale in the Gulf of Maine in 2028.
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