Floating Offshore Wind Lease Sale Lands $757 Million in Winning Bids

The first-ever auction for wind lease tracts off the West Coast concluded Wednesday, pulling down $757 million in winning bids. Government and industry officials touted the impressive bidding as evidence of the growing momentum in the offshore wind sector and for floating offshore wind specifically. While offshore wind developers can expect a welcoming policy environment, floating wind turbines have still yet to be deployed at commercial-scale in the U.S.

“Everyone knows that we’re going to have questions about ports, and we’re going to have questions about transmission. They still haven’t figured out what kind of off-take agreements they’re going to do,” Sam Salustro, VP of strategic comms for the Business Network for Offshore Wind, told Politico Pro. “And still, there are bids of over $100 million. I think if anything, it’s showing the continued confidence broadly in the U.S. market and the U.S. regulatory system.”

Sources: Politico Pro $, Utility Dive, Reuters

From a related story on CleanTechnica, “Equinor Secures First West Coast Offshore Wind Lease,” here’s a little more info: “The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management conducted the first ever sale of leases for offshore wind along the west coast of the United States recently. Equinor secured a 2 gigawatt lease in the Morro Bay area near San Luis Obisbo that has the potential to generate enough electricity to power 750,000 U.S. homes.”