Biggest US auction for renewable energy at $1.5 billion on offshore wind sites on February 23rd as companies are investing in sustainable energy. After the launch officials updated that the bids gradually rose on six available tracts involving nearly 500,000 acres off the coasts of New Jersey and New York.
After 21 rounds of bidding conducted on February 23, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management was set to resume the process on the morning of February 24. US President Joe Biden has embraced offshore wind as a component of an energy transition needed to combat climate change.
Development of all six tracts could generate as much as 7GW of wind energy, enough to power some two million homes, the agency said. Nearly 25 firms were authorized to participate in the auction, including European companies Avangrid Renewables, Equinor ASA, and EDF Renewables Development, as well as US groups Invenergy and Arevia Power.“People are excited because this is the first lease sale that has been held by the federal government since 2018,” said Lesley Jantarasami, an energy specialist at the Bipartisan Policy Centre, a US think tank.
2030 goals
Jantarasami noted that the Biden administration has set a goal of producing 30GW of offshore wind energy by 2030.
“For a long time, everybody has been saying it’s poised to take off,” she said, alluding to the interest of European companies in the US offshore market.
“But we had not seen the federal government take concrete action to make this a reality,” she said. Currently, there are just two producing offshore wind sites in the US generating a modest 42MW. But the Biden administration last year cleared construction of two larger offshore wind projects: Vineyard Wind in Massachusetts and South Ford Wind offshore Rhode Island. The administration also envisions reviewing at least 16 plans to construct and operate commercial offshore wind energy facilities through 2025 and plans seven auctions through that year. Projects are expected near the coasts of North Carolina and California. In 2018, an auction on three tracts across 390,000 acres near Massachusetts raised $405 million following 32 rounds of bidding. While the White House’s principal legislative package, “Build Back Better”, remains stuck in Congress, Biden’s administration “may rely on the results of the auction to reinforce is green energy bona fides”, Fox said. But the auction represents just the first step in a lengthy process before wind energy will be produced. Key permits will need to be granted and “legal challenges represent continued risk”, Fox said.
Credits- Phnompenhpost
