Price hits USD 25.5m in 1st day of NY offshore wind bidding

The first day of bidding in the auction for a wind lease offshore New York has ended following 27 rounds and a record asking price of USD 25.5 million (EUR 24.4m).

A total of six parties bid through the 21st round, when the asking price reached USD 14.5 million. It had already exceeded in the 17th round the previous record, set in 2014 by US Wind Inc with a USD-8.7-million offer. Bidding for the day ended at 1830 Eastern time, with three parties still competing.

An area of 79,350 acres (32,110 ha) is up for grabs. As announced in late October, 14 companies were found to be legally, technically and financially qualified to participate in the auction, including units of Dong Energy (CPH:DENERG), Innogy (ETR:IGY), EDF (EPA:EDF), Statoil (STO:STLO), EDF Renewable Development and Deepwater Wind, as well as the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).

The provisional winner of the December auction will have a preliminary lease term of 12 months to submit a site assessment plan (SAP), describing the proposed installations for measuring wind, ocean and meteorological conditions. After the SAP is approved, the lessee will have up to four and a half years to submit a construction and operations plan (COP). Once this is done, BOEM will conduct a project-specific environmental review.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.958)

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!