The Biden-Harris administration completed its sixth offshore wind lease sale by offering areas in the Gulf of Maine—the first commercial sale for floating offshore wind on the Atlantic Coast. The sale, conducted by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), resulted in two provisional winners on four lease areas and over $21.9 million in winning bids.
The Department of the Interior has:
- Approved 10 commercial scale offshore wind energy projects—up from zero at the start of the Administration
- Approved more than 15 gigawatts of clean energy from offshore wind projects—enough to power over 5 million homes.
- Held six offshore wind lease auctions, including a record-breaking sale offshore New York and the first-ever sales offshore the Pacific and Gulf Coasts.
- Announced a schedule of lease sales through 2028.
- Taken steps to grow a sustainable offshore wind energy industry by encouraging the use of project labor agreements, strengthening workforce training, bolstering domestic supply chains, consulting with Tribes, and enhancing engagement with fisheries, communities and ocean users.
Through the sale, Avangrid Renewables, LLC 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 (nm) from Massachusetts.
Invenergy NE Offshore Wind, LLC won Lease OCS-562 at $4,892,700, which consists of 97,854 acres and is approximately 46.2 nm from Maine and Lease OCS-567 at $5,889,000 which consists of 117,780 acres is approximately 21.6 nautical miles (nm) from Massachusetts.
Together, the leased areas have the potential to power more than 2.3 million homes with clean energy.
The sale resulted in over $5.4 million total bidding credits. These bidding credits represent binding commitments by companies to invest over $2.7 million in workforce training and domestic supply chain development, and an additional $2.7 million for fisheries compensatory mitigation.
In addition, lease stipulations require that the lessees make every reasonable effort to enter into a project labor agreement covering the construction stage of any project for the lease areas; develop communication plans for engagement with Tribes, agencies, and fisheries; and provide semi-annual reports on engagement activities with Tribes and communities.
The leases awarded do not authorize the construction or operation of any offshore wind facilities. Rather, 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.
