US govt to auction 3.4-GW-plus offshore wind lease area in Nov

The US Interior Department today announced that on November 9 it will auction a wind power development zone off the New Jersey coast, where at least 3.4 GW of capacity could be installed.

The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has prequalified 13 developers to participate in the lease sale, according to a press release. The list includes subsidiaries of France’s EDF, Spain’s Iberdrola, RES America and Ireland’s Mainstream Renewable Power, among others.

The New Jersey Wind Energy Area begins some seven nautical miles from shore and spans over 343,833 acres (139,000 ha). It will be auctioned as two leases. A map of the area can be found here.

If the zone is fully developed, it could support at least 3.4 GW of commercial wind generation, which would be enough to meet the annual power consumption of about 1.2 million households, according to estimates by the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

To date, the BOEM has awarded nine commercial offshore wind leases, including seven via the competitive lease sale process, it said.

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