The U.S. Department of the Interior auctioned off the first offshore wind energy leases in the Gulf of Maine on 29 October, despite continued opposition from New England commercial fishers.
The auction included eight areas on the Outer Continental Shelf off the New England coast that winning bidders could develop for wind energy operations. The government claimed that if the leases are developed to their full capacity, the sites could generate 13 gigawatts of energy – enough to power 4.5 million homes.
On 29 October, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced that it had selected two provisional winners from the auction: Avangrid Renewables and Invenergy NE Offshore Wind. The bids will bring in USD 21.9 million (EUR 20.3 million) to the government for four of the lease areas.
Avangrid Renewables won Lease OCS-564 – a 98,565-acre area – with a bid of USD 4,928,250 (EUR 4,562,072) and Lease OCS-568 – a 124,897-acre area – with a bid of USD 6,244,850 (EUR 5,780,918). Invenergy NE Offshore Wind won Lease OCS-562 – a 97,854-acre area – with a bid of USD 4,892,700 (EUR 4,529,219) and Lease OCS-567 – a 117,780-acre area – with a bid of USD 5,889,000 (EUR 5,451,594).
Lease OCS-562 is located off the coast of Maine, while the remaining leases are located off the coast of Massachusetts.
The auction, first announced in September, has faced stiff opposition from New England fishers, who question how wind energy installations will impact the environment and the commercial fisheries they rely on.
"The government put our livelihoods and our coastal communities up on the auction block,” New England Fishermen's Stewardship Association (NEFSA) CEO Jerry Leeman said. “The areas slated for industrialization cover prime, multi-generational fishing grounds that will likely close forever, jeopardizing our ability to make a living and support partner businesses on shore."
Leeman said the location of six of the sites will block access to much of Georges Bank, which separates the Gulf of Maine from the Atlantic Ocean, creating more ...