The US offshore wind market has been given a boost with a historic auction to lease five areas off the coast of California.
The auction, conducted by the US Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) over two days, is the first offshore wind lease sale off America’s West Coast and first that will require floating turbine technology to develop.
Overall, BOEM generated US$757 million in revenue for five leases on the Outer Continental Shelf off central and northern California. The winners are RWE Offshore Wind Holdings, Equinor Wind US, Invenergy California Offshore, California North Floating (Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners), and Central California Offshore Wind (Ocean Winds).
“The future is floating and today represents a significant milestone for the U.S. offshore wind industry as it builds toward the Biden Administration’s goal of deploying 30GW of offshore wind energy by 2030 and 15GW of floating offshore wind energy by 2035,” said Liz Burdock, founder and chief executive of the Business Network for Offshore Wind, a nationwide non-profit working to accelerate offshore wind energy deployment and build a dedicated supply chain.
“By tapping into the vast wind resources along our country’s Pacific Coast, we can cement the United States as a global leader in floating offshore wind technology and supercharge our deployment of clean, affordable, and reliable wind power.”
Recently twelve delegates from the UK visited North Carolina to share best practice and expertise in support of the US’s burgeoning offshore wind sector. They were focused on North Carolina, which has set up a committee to look at expanding the sector in the state.
The five lease areas off California total approximately 373,268 acres and have the potential to generate at least 4.5GW of offshore wind energy, powering more than 1.5 million homes, and supporting thousands of new jobs.
