Bids at the California auction rose to 460 million
2022.12.07 11:05
Bids at the California auction rose to 460 million
Budrigannews.com – On Wednesday, the first-ever auction of offshore wind development rights off the California coast began its second day with bids exceeding $460 million.
The sale by the Biden administration is an important step toward its goal of installing wind turbines along every U.S. coastline. It also serves as a crucial test of developers’ willingness to invest in floating wind turbines, a new technology that is needed in places where the ocean floor is too deep for fixed equipment.
Off the north and central coasts of the state, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) of the Interior Department is holding an auction for five lease areas that total a total of 373,267 acres (151,056 hectares). Leases in Atlantic Ocean’s shallower waters have been the subject of all previous federal offshore wind auctions.
A total of $462.1 million was offered in high bids after 22 rounds of bidding. According to the live auction results on the BOEM website, two leases off the central coast had received bids exceeding $100 million, and the remaining leases had received bids ranging from $62.7 million to $98.8 million.
During the auction, the identities of the bidders are not made public, but 43 companies have been approved to participate.
They include well-established players in offshore wind, such as Avangrid (NYSE:). Orsted, Inc. (OTC:) and Equinor, all of which are working on projects on the East Coast of the United States, as well as potential newcomers like Hexicon, a floating wind developer from Sweden, and Corio, a unit of Macquarie.
