US chooses winning bids in first commercial sale for floating offshore Atlantic wind

PORTLAND, Maine — The U.S. government chose winning bids Tuesday to develop wind power off recent England in the first commercial sale for floating offshore wind on the Atlantic coast.

The Bureau of Ocean vigor Management held a rental agreement sale and selected nearly $22 million in winning bids for four rental agreement areas from two firms. The sale is a major step toward accelerating President Joe Biden’s objective of dramatically expanding offshore wind vigor capacity by 2030.

Environmentalists praised the rental agreement sale, though commercial fishermen who have questioned the expansion of offshore wind said they remain opposed. The rental agreement areas are in the Gulf of Maine, which is a critical fishing ground for the U.S. lobster industry.

The awarding of the leases is “a critical step in our fight against climate transformation,” said U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.

“Together, we can make excellent paying jobs, construct a domestic supply chain, and ensure that the momentum of this offshore industry continues for generations to arrive,” Haaland said in a statement.

Two of the leases went to Avangrid Renewables for areas about 35 miles (55 kilometers) from Massachusetts. The other two leases went to Invenergy NE Offshore Wind for areas about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from Massachusetts. The four areas combined are more than 625 square miles (1,600 square kilometers).

The leased areas have the potential to power more than 2.3 million homes, the Interior Department said in a statement.

Avangrid said in a statement that the leased areas will enable the corporation to advancement floating wind technology. The next creation of offshore wind advancement is increasingly taking place in deep waters, the corporation said.

Avangrid is a joint owner, along with Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, of the Vineyard Wind assignment, a 62-turbine wind farm under construction 15 miles (24 kilometers) off the coast of Massachusetts.

“Securing these rental agreement areas provides a distinctive chance to advance our growing business at a significant worth, and reinforces our unwavering commitment to helping the recent England region meet its growing require for reliable, tidy vigor,” Avangrid CEO Pedro Azagra said in a statement.

The Bureau of Ocean vigor Management had planned a floating offshore wind sale off Oregon for this month, but it was postponed amid lack of bidder yield and opposition by the governor.

The Maine Lobstermen’s Association, a major commercial fishing trade throng that has pushed back against expanding offshore wind power, characterized the rental agreement sale as “another risky step toward the industrialization of one of the globe’s most productive marine ecosystems.”

The association said no part of the Gulf of Maine is appropriate for offshore wind. But Conservation Law Foundation and other environmental and renewable vigor groups said expanded wind power off recent England is critical in the era of climate transformation.

“The Gulf of Maine rental agreement sale is a pivotal step in our tidy vigor shift and for the region to significantly reduce climate-damaging emissions,” said Kate Sinding Daly, elder vice president for law and policy at Conservation Law Foundation.

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Associated Press writer Jennifer McDermott contributed to this update.