New York Bight offshore wind lease sale attracts $4.37 billion in winning bids

The just completed New York Bight offshore wind lease sale was the highest-grossing competitive U.S. offshore energy lease sale in history —attracting competitive winning bids from six companies totaling approximately $4.37 billion.

In comparison the most recent oil and gas sale—Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 257— generated $191.6 million in high bids. That sale was later, of course, invalidated by a judge.

Today’s lease sale offered six lease areas totaling over 488,000 acres in the New York Bight for potential wind energy development and drew competitive winning bids from six companies totaling approximately $4.37 billion.

A recent report indicates that the United States’ growing offshore wind energy industry presents a $109 billion revenue opportunity to businesses in the supply chain over the next decade.

“This week’s offshore wind sale makes one thing clear: the enthusiasm for the clean energy economy is undeniable and it’s here to stay,” said Secretary Deb Haaland. “The investments we are seeing today will play an important role in delivering on the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to tackle the climate crisis and create thousands of good-paying, union jobs across the nation.”

National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) President Erik Milito issued the following statement after the conclusion of the sale:

“The record-shattering interest in the New York Bight lease sale is testament to how bright the American offshore wind outlook is and how confident developers are in the strength of the U.S. offshore wind industry as a whole. Companies continue to invest and innovate, and the regulatory regime has a firm foundation. The New York Bight is a watershed moment for American offshore wind.

“Thousands of new jobs and billions of dollars of investment are now on the horizon for New York, New Jersey, and the entire U.S. supply chain as a result of this lease sale. We are already seeing an offshore wind substation and a wind installation vessel being built in Texas, an offshore wind service operation vessel being constructed in Louisiana, and transmission cables being manufactured in North Carolina and South Carolina, along with many other examples.

“In many ways, the New York Bight lease sale is just the kickoff for a busy 2022 for American offshore wind. We applaud the work done thus far by Interior and BOEM and say, ‘Well done and keep up the momentum.’ We can clearly see the demand for more leasing, and we encourage the Administration to sustain progress through continued lease sales and project approvals. Congress can – and should – play a positive role through expansion of key tax credits that will help incentivize projects from the leasing stage through operations.”

The provisional winners of today’s lease sale are:

The provisional winners of today’s lease sale are:

Bight Wind Holdings LLC is a joint venture between Germany’s largest power producer RWE and Britain’s National Grid.

Other winning bidders included Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Bight LLC and Mid Atlantic Offshore Wind LCC, both of which are fifty-fifty joint ventures between Shell New Energies US LLC  and EDF Renewables North America, whose ultimate parent is Électricité de France

OW Ocean Winds East LLC, is a joint venture between EnBW North America, a subsidiary of Portugal’s EDP Renewables and France’s ENGIE .

 Attentive Energy LLC is a joint venture between EnBW and France’s Total Energie.

 Invenergy Wind Offshore LLC is a unit of privately-held, Chicago based Invenergy.