Deepwater, others OK’d to bid on 742K acres off Mass.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Interior Department is planning the nation’s largest competitive auction for offshore wind projects, 742,000 acres off Massachusetts that may generate as much as 5 gigawatts of electricity, Bloomberg News reported last week.
The area will be divided into four zones and may produce enough power for 1.4 million homes, the department said in an emailed statement. Twelve companies, including Fishermen’s Energy LLC, Providence-based Deepwater Wind LLC and Iberdrola SA, are qualified to bid on the areas about 14 miles off the coast. The auction is scheduled for Jan. 29.
The department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has awarded seven leases – two through noncompetitive bids – for projects in the Atlantic Ocean, including Cape Wind in Nantucket Sound. Five competitive sales for more than 357,000 acres off Maryland, Virginia and New England have generated more than $14 million.
The bureau in 2015 plans to hold another competitive auction for lease areas off the coast of New Jersey, where recently the state’s Board of Utilities rejected a proposal for a wind farm near Atlantic City. •

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