Offshore Wind Auction Destroys All-Time Record
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The Department of the Interior closed a record-smashing offshore wind energy auction, showcasing what the Trump administration says is its fidelity toward renewable energy.
In a joint announcement Friday with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the Interior Department revealed what is being hailed as the country’s biggest competitive lease sale for renewable energy off federal waters.
Three different energy companies posted provisional winning bids, with each offering $135,000. The total adds up to a record-breaking $405 million.
The previous record for a single lease bid took place during a New York auction in December 2016 — which was set at $42.5 million.
“To anyone who doubted that our ambitious vision for energy dominance would not include renewables, today we put that rumor to rest,” Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke said in a statement Friday. “With bold leadership, faster, streamlined environmental reviews, and a lot of hard work with our states and fishermen, we’ve given the wind industry the confidence to think and bid big.”
The lease sale offers around 390,000 acres of federal waters off the Massachusetts coast. The three companies who posted provisional winning bids were Equinor, Mayflower Wind Energy and Vineyard Wind.
The auctioned area, if fully developed, can support about 4.1 gigawatts of commercial wind generation — that’s enough electricity to keep almost 1.5 million homes running.
Eleven different companies participated in the auction, reflecting a surge in interest in the U.S. offshore wind energy market.
“The intense competition we’ve seen in this offshore wind lease auction is completely unprecedented.
With strong support from Secretary Zinke, Massachusetts and other states, global businesses now recognize the potential of America’s world-class offshore wind resources,” Nancy Sopko, a spokeswoman for the American Wind Energy Association, said in a statement Friday.
Following a lengthy regulatory process and government approval, the eventual lessee will have 33 years to construct and operate an offshore wind farm.
The White House is hailing the auction as an example of how renewable energy is actually viewed among the administration.
https://www.westernjournal.com/trump-hates-gr...tyalliance