Aug 14 (Reuters) – Norway’s Equinor and U.S. energy firm Dominion have been the successful bidders in a U.S. authorities offshore wind public sale of two areas off the coasts of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, the U.S. Inside Division stated on Wednesday.
The offshore wind lease sale generated lower than $93 million in successful bids, making it among the many least profitable of these held by the Biden administration.
U.S. President Joe Biden has put the event of offshore wind on the forefront of his local weather change agenda, however the business has stumbled within the final 12 months as a result of hovering prices and provide chain disruptions.
Equinor bid $75 million for a 101,443-acre lease 26 miles (42 km) from Delaware Bay. Dominion’s Virginia Electrical and Energy Co gained a 176,505-acre lease 35 miles from Chesapeake Bay for $17.65 million. Six corporations participated within the public sale, the Inside Division stated.
Each Equinor and Dominion are already growing offshore wind initiatives in U.S. waters.
“Offshore wind is important to our all-of-the-above strategy to satisfy the unprecedented development of our buyer electrical demand over the following decade,” Dominion CEO Robert Blue stated in an announcement. “Successful this lease space offers us one other low-cost choice to satisfy that rising demand whereas offering our prospects with dependable, inexpensive and growing clear power.”
Equinor stated its latest U.S. lease wouldn’t produce energy till after 2035.
“We’ll take a disciplined strategy to attenuate threat and mature a strong challenge in our portfolio,” Pal Eitrheim, govt vice chairman of Equinor Renewables, stated in an announcement.
Final month, the Inside Division’s Bureau of Ocean Power Administration canceled a deliberate sale of offshore wind leases within the Gulf of Mexico as a result of a scarcity of business curiosity. An public sale held there final 12 months resulted within the sale of simply considered one of three supplied leases for $5.6 million.
The Inside Division plans to carry offshore wind auctions later this 12 months for areas off the coast of Oregon and within the Gulf of Maine.
(Reporting by Nichola Groom; Enhancing by Jan Harvey and Paul Simao)
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2024.
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