After 33 rounds and more than a day of bidding on 16th December, Statoil emerged as the winner with a record-shattering final bid of $42,469,725 for the rights to develop an area of nearly 80,000 acres
The auction results follow the historic completion of America’s first offshore wind farm near Block Island, R.I., whose turbines started spinning and sending power to the grid last week, on Monday 12th December. Offshore wind will contribute to thousands of skilled jobs in construction, manufacturing and operations that can be generated nationwide.
“New York has shown the promise of offshore wind power for energy developers” said Nancy Sopko, Manager, Advocacy and Federal Legislative Affairs, for the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). “Combining top-notch wind resources, strong demand from some of our biggest cities, and a firmly committed state government, New York has the winning recipe to build these job-creating power plants. This proves there is real appetite and demand for new ocean energy opportunities in American waters.”
Sopko added that investment from such an established player in the offshore oil and gas industry illustrates how offshore wind is the next frontier in energy development. Over the past decade there has been consistent progress toward the realisation of offshore wind power’s potential in America. The completion of the auction increases the strong momentum building to develop more of this ocean energy resource in US waters.
Completion of the auction also brings New York state a step closer to meeting its goal of generating 50 percent of its energy from renewables by 2030. According to Sopko, offshore wind is well suited to helping the state meet its goal, because the turbines capture strong, consistent winds alongside America’s largest population centres.
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