Yesterday the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management completed a competitive lease sale for renewable wind energy development in federal waters offshore North Carolina. Avangrid Renewables, LLC won the auction-based sale with a high bid of $9,066,650. As a result, it has the right to lease 122,045 areas of ocean space in the designated Kitty Hawk Wind Energy Area.
The Kitty Hawk Wind Energy Area sits 24 nautical miles from shore, off the northeast coast of North Carolina by the Virginia border. The base roughly triangular area extends 25.7 nautical miles in a general
southeast direction, with a seaward apex in the northeast. Using the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s estimates of 3
megawatts per square kilometer, the lease area has a potential
generating capacity of 1,486 megawatts.
BOEM announced the Kitty Hawk auction in January 2017. Its conclusion yesterday represents the first federal offshore wind lease sale under the Trump administration. According to BOEM, three other bidders particiated in the auction: Wind Future LLC, Statoil Wind US LLC, and wpd offshore Alpha LLC.
The North Carolina auction was BOEM's seventh competitive lease sale. In all, competitive lease sales have raised about $67 million for the federal government. While no commercial offshore wind projects are currently operating in federal waters, the Deepwater Wind Block Island project off Rhode Island began commercial operation last year.
Energy powers society; society's choices shape energy policy. A blog about our energy resources and the choices they present for society.
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