US proposes lease sale for wind area offshore N Carolina

The US Department of the Interior (DoI) on Friday announced a proposed lease sale for the Kitty Hawk wind energy area offshore North Carolina.

This is the same 122,405-acre (49,530 ha) Kitty Hawk spot that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), which is part of DoI, announced in August 2014. Two other areas nearby -- the Wilmington East and Wilmington West -- have been combined with the planning and leasing process for the South Carolina call areas.

A Proposed Sale Notice (PSN) and Request for Interest (RFI) for the Kitty Hawk area will be published on August 16. To take part in the auction, potential qualified bidders should respond to the notice by the end of a 60-day comment period. Interested companies that have not been qualified by BOEM must submit qualification materials by the end of the comment period. Only companies that have been notified by BOEM that they are legally, technically and financially qualified by the time of the Final Sale Notice issuance will be able to participate in the lease sale.

If BOEM finds that competitive interest in the area still exists, it will move ahead with the competitive process. In case only one potential lessee is interested, the agency may proceed with the non-competitive process and agree terms of the lease directly with the interested company.

BOEM has so far awarded 11 commercial offshore wind leases, nine of which through a competitive lease sale process.

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