4C Offshore Empowering Intelligence

BOEM names Kitty Hawk lease sale winner

4C Offshore | Tom Russell
By: Tom Russell 17/03/2017 4C Offshore
Avangrid Renewables LLC has been named provisional winner of The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's (BOEM) lease sale for the Kitty Hawk offshore wind lease area off the coast of North Carolina.
After a total of 17 rounds Avangrid secured the rights to the site with a winning bid of $9,066,650, ($18,316/km2).The site is located about 24 nautical miles from shore and extends 25.7 nautical miles in a southeast direction. It covers 495km (122,405 acres) 122,405 acres of the Atlantic Ocean and could host an array up to 1.5GW.

Before the lease is executed, the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission will conduct a review of the auction, and the provisional winner will be required to pay the winning bid and provide financial assurance to BOEM. The lease will have a preliminary term of one year, during which the lessee may submit a Site Assessment Plan (SAP) to BOEM for approval. The SAP will describe the facilities (e.g., meteorological towers or buoys) a lessee plans to install or deploy for the assessment of the wind resources and ocean conditions of its commercial lease area.

Following approval of a SAP, the lessee will then have four and a half years to submit a Construction and Operations Plan (COP) to BOEM for approval. This plan will provide a detailed proposal for the construction and operation of a wind energy project within the lease area.

Once BOEM receives a COP, it will conduct an environmental review of the proposed project and reasonable alternatives. Public input will be an important part of BOEM’s review process. If BOEM approves the COP, the lessee will then have a term of 25 years to construct and operate the project.

BOEM deemed nine companies legally, technically and financially qualified to participate in the lease sale: Avangrid Renewables, Enbridge Holdings, Shell WindEnergy, Wind Future, Outer Banks Ocean Energy, PNE Wind USA, Statoil Wind US, wpd offshore Alpha and Northland Power. Four of the selected companies participated in the auction, Wind Future LLC, Statoil Wind US LLC, and wpd offshore Alpha LLC, which kicked off at $244,810.

To date, BOEM has held six competitive lease sales, which have generated over $58m (£47m or €54m) in high bids for more than one million acres in federal waters. Most recently Statoil won the rights to an 800MW site off New York as the result of a blind auction held in December 2016. The company won with a bid of $42.5m (approximately £35m or €40m) which equates to roughly $132m/km2 (£108m/km2 or €118m/km2).

For more information please follow the links provided. Alternatively you can
click here to see the lease area on our interactive map.

Premium

ForeSEE Premium, our most popular subscription, gives you full access to use the ForeSEE WebApp which includes exclusive offshore wind, transmission and vessel reports, news and downloads.

Request a 30 minute Demo

Trending News!