Offshore staff
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will hold a wind auction on Wednesday, Feb. 23 for more than 480,000 acres offshore New York and New Jersey, in the area known as the New York Bight.
The auction will allow offshore wind developers to bid on six lease areas. According to BOEM, these leases could result in 5.6 to 7 gigawatts of offshore wind energy, enough to power nearly 2 million homes.
This will be the first offshore wind energy auction under the Biden administration, and the first US offshore wind lease sale in more than three years.
According to National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) President Erik Milito, this can be a milestone moment for American offshore wind.
“The New York Bight offshore wind lease sale is much anticipated and long awaited. It has been more than three years since the ‘bidding bonanza’ lease sale offshore Massachusetts, and now we finally have a set date for what will be an incredible energy and economic opportunity,” Milito said. “With their large economies and massive populations, New York and New Jersey are two coastal states critical to the development of American offshore wind. The benefits of the lease sale will go beyond New York and New Jersey and will support jobs and businesses throughout the US.”
He added: “We are just scratching the surface of what American offshore wind will achieve. NOIA applauds Interior and encourages them to keep up the momentum so that critical investments have the certainty needed to support our supply chain, ports, workers, and climate ambitions.”
01/12/2022
