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    • There is poor interest in selling wind power to the Gulf of Maine
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    There is poor interest in selling wind power to the Gulf of Maine

    Umito Posted on

    • Peter McGuire, Maine Public

    Two companies have won the rights to develop floating offshore wind turbines in the Gulf of Maine.

    The results of the federal government’s first-ever wind energy lease sale yielded about $22 million in lease payments for four parcels off Cape Cod and Maine.

    Avangrid Renewable Energybased in Connecticut, submitted winning bids of $4.9 million and $6.2 million for two parcels located about 30 miles off Cape Cod, according to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

    Invenergy NE Offshore Wind, meanwhile, won an area more than 46 miles off the Maine coast for $4.9 million and another off Cape Cod for $5.8 million.

    In total, the companies have leased about 440,000 acres of ocean. Only half of the packages The officials up for sale were up for bid during Tuesday’s auction.

    A representative for the office would not disclose how much the federal government hoped to make from the sale. The agency does not release expected energy revenues, but “the sales price of $50 per acre was established as a benchmark to provide a fair return to the taxpayer,” spokeswoman Alison Ferris said in an email. This base payment is roughly equivalent to the amount offered by Avangrid and Invenergy for the leases.

    The sale results were far lower than the staggering sums spent on offshore wind leases about two years ago. Developer offer $4.37 billion on six leasing areas off New York in early 2022 and an additional $757 million on a sale of five plots in California later that year.

    Kate Sinding Daly, senior vice president of law and policy at the Conservation Law Foundation, acknowledged high inflation and other economic challenges have slowed the offshore wind energy industry. But the outcome of the sale shows that developers are still attracted to the enormous energy potential of the Gulf of Maine, she added.

    “We are not seeing a significant decline in interest in wind development in our region,” Daly said.

    Proponents of floating offshore wind in Maine also considered the sale a success.

    “Responsible development of offshore wind energy will make us more energy independent, reduce harmful air pollution and create good-paying jobs, while protecting ocean wildlife and avoiding key fishing grounds,” said Jack Shapiro, director of climate and clean energy for the Natural Resources Council of Maine. .

    The sale was also a success compared to recent failed wind energy auctions off the Oregon coast and in the Gulf of Mexico, Shapiro added.

    Gov. Janet Mills’ administration wants Maine to be a central player in the burgeoning floating offshore wind industry. The Gulf of Maine is too deep to support bottom-mounted wind turbines, so the turbines must be floating and attached to the seafloor with cables.

    Maine was awarded a special lease this year to test technology that the University of Maine developed alongside industry partners Diamond Offshore Wind.

    The Maine Department of Transportation has proposed building a dedicated port on vacant state-owned land on Sears Island. But the proposal faced opposition from conservation advocates. The federal government recently rejected Maine’s request for a $456 million grant to build the facility.

    Dan Burgess, director of the governor’s Office of Energy, said the sale of the federal lease represented a “significant step” for Maine and the region as they expand offshore wind energy to reduce their dependence on costly fossil fuels. and fight climate change.

    “We look forward to following the next phases of these lease sales and leveraging our progress to promote this industry for the benefit of Maine people,” Burgess said.

    Maine’s plans to develop offshore wind power have faced opposition from some fishing interests, including the powerful lobster industry. But that challenge eased after the governor banned wind energy development in state waters and major deep-sea lobster fishing groups were excluded from selling federal leases.

    This story is a production of the New England News Collaborative. It was originally published by Maine Public.

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