RES America Developments and US Wind bid almost $1.9m to win the right to build 3.4GW of wind off New Jersey.
RES claimed the 160,480-acre south lease area with a $880,715 winning bid and US Wind agreed to pay $1,006,240 for the 183,353-acre north lease area.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management received bids totaling $1,886,955. Three companies participated in today’s auction, which went seven rounds, with Fishermen’s Energy also participating. Another 10 companies had qualified but did not join the bidding.
BOEM went ahead with the sale despite uncertainty over the state’s offshore renewable energy certificate program. New Jersey has passed a law that requires utilities to purchase electricity from offshore wind farms, however the Board of Public Utilities has yet to develop an OREC scheme.
The New Jersey lease area begins seven miles offshore from Atlantic City and extends from Cape May north for 60 miles to Barnegat.
A 30-day anti-trust review will follow today’s auction, after which BOEM will send leases to the winners.
Today’s sale is BOEM’s fifth such auction. RES/Dong and OffshoreMW paid a combined $448,000 for two sites off Massachusetts, Italian outfit Renexia/US Wind bid $8.7m for the 1.45GW Maryland, Deepwater paid $3.8m for the 1GW Rhode Island zone and regulated utility Dominion bid $1.6m for a 2GW lease area off Virginia.
BOEM expects to auction three lease areas off North Carolina next year and planning is underway for New York and South Carolina.
Image: RES is active in offshore wind on both sides of Atlantic (RES)
