Offshore Wind Energy Companies Strike Big With $4.37 Billion in Total Winning Bids

The Department of Interior announced on Friday a lease sale was finalized for over 488,000 acres in the New York Bight. The sale was spread across a total of six companies, for a total of ~$4.37 Billion. This is the country’s largest grossing competitive offshore energy lease sale ever.

Secretary Deb Haaland stated, “This week’s offshore wind sale makes one thing clear: the enthusiasm for the clean energy economy is undeniable and it’s here to stay…” She’s not wrong.

Whether you’re a fan of the renewable energy effort push or not, this is an absolute monster of a deal. The Biden-Harris administration has set a goal of 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by the year 2030, with this being a major milestone in achieving that goal. The provisional winners of the lease sale, as reported from the DOI, are shown below:

Before contracts are officially rewarded and the leases finalized, the DOJ and FTC will be conducting an analysis to determine competitiveness, while the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will review the companies’ financials health.

According to the report published by the Department of Interior, stipulations will be put into place to incentivize domestic sourcing of components to support this effort (turbines, blades, etc.) and to promote union-building of the projects. There is also a push to ensure sanctity of offshore ecosystems, and to “engage with Tribes, underserved communities, and other ocean users who could be affected by offshore wind energy development.”

The lease areas within the New York Bight are shown below:

WE ARE GOING GREEN LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, AND SHOW NO SIGNS OF STOPPING.