US to launch 3.4-GW wind lease sale off New Jersey

Jul 18, 2014 - The US Interior Department (DOI) said yesterday it would hold a commercial wind lease auction for almost 344,000 acres (139,000 ha) on the outer continental shelf off the New Jersey coast.

If fully developed, the proposed area can host up to 3.4 GW of commercial wind parks, the output of which will be enough to supply about 1.2 million households, according to calculations by the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

The sale will be conducted by the DOI’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), which will auction the area in two separate leases. Those will include the South Lease Area of 160,480 acres and the North Lease Area of 183,353 acres.

The sale notice for the auction will be subject to a 60-day public comment until September 19. The feedback will be taken into account before the launch of a final sale notice, which will define the exact date of the lease sale, the DOI said. Interested parties are requested to submit qualification packages for the sale until September 19.

BOEM will hold a public seminar on August 6 to provide more information and explanations about the proposed auction.

To date, BOEM has issued five commercial wind energy leases off the Atlantic coast and expects to organise additional wind tenders for areas off Massachusetts and Maryland, the latter being scheduled for next month. Those competitive leases have attracted nearly USD 5.4 million (EUR 4m) in high bids for an area of about 277,550 acres in federal waters.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.739)

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