The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has announced Equinor, Mayflower Wind Energy and Vineyard Wind as the provisional winners in the Massachusetts offshore wind auction, which concluded today after 32 rounds.
Combined bids of $405.1m secured the three lease zones, with each zone won with two individual bids of $135m and one of $135.1m.
Equinor took lease zone one, which covers 52,127 hectares, with a winning bid of $135m.
Mayflower Wind Energy, a joint venture between Shell and EDP Renewables, also won with a $135m bid, taking lease zone two which covers 51,552 hectares.
The third zone, covering 53,568 hectares, was taken by Vineyard Wind with a $135.1m bid. Vineyard Wind is a JV of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Avangrid Renewables.
Nineteen companies were qualified to bid, with 11 of them placing bids at the start of the auction yesterday.
The other eight companies that took part in the bidding were Cobra Industrial Services, East Wind, EC&R Development, EDF Renewables, Innogy, Northeast Wind Energy, PNE Wind USA and WPD Offshore Alpha.
Before the lease is executed, the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission will conduct an anti-competitiveness review of the auction, and the provisional winner will be required to pay the winning bid and provide financial assurance to BOEM.
The lease will have a preliminary term of one year, during which the lessee may submit a Site Assessment Plan to BOEM for approval.
The plan will describe the facilities the winners plan to install or deploy for the assessment of the wind resources and ocean conditions of its commercial lease area.
Following approval of the plan, lessees will have four and a half years to submit construction and operations plans to BOEM for approval. This plan will provide a detailed proposal for the construction and operation of a wind energy project within the lease area.
BOEM will then conduct an environmental review of the proposed project and reasonable alternatives. If BOEM approves the latter plans, the winners will then have 33 years to construct and operate the projects.
US Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke said: “To anyone who doubted that our ambitious vision for energy dominance would not include renewables, today we put that rumour to rest.
“With bold leadership, faster, streamlined environmental reviews, and a lot of hard work with our states and fishermen, we’ve given the wind industry the confidence to think and bid big.”
Mayflower director John Hartnett said: “Mayflower’s entry into US offshore wind is exciting and will leverage Shell and EDPR’s years of combined wind development and offshore experience.
“We commend BOEM on a successful bid round and look forward to working with local groups and communities to realise this opportunity.”