Central Atlantic offshore wind auction shows appetite for renewable energy source 

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Today the Department of the Interior held an offshore wind auction for two lease areas – one offshore of Delaware and Maryland and one offshore Virginia.  According to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the two areas could supply clean energy to up to 2.2 million homes. Six companies participated in the auction. 

In provisional results, Equinor Wind US LLC won the Delaware and Maryland lease at $75,001,001 and Virginia Electric and Power Co – which does business as Dominion –  won the Virginia lease at $17,650,500, which consists of 176,505 acres off the Virginia coast.  

While the leases awarded today do not authorize the construction or operation of an offshore wind project, they give the winners the ability to submit a project plan for BOEM’s review. 

Upon completion of the auction, Grayson Holmes, a senior attorney in SELC’s Virginia office released the following statement:  

“Bidding credits from today’s sale – which was the first to be held in a decade – will result in over $11 million in investments for workforce training and domestic supply chain, and an additional $11 million for fisheries compensatory mitigation. In Virginia we are already seeing the incredible potential of offshore wind with the CVOW project that is now under construction. “Done responsibly and in strong collaboration with communities, state regulators, and BOEM, offshore wind is one of the smartest clean energy solutions that we’re not talking about enough,” Holmes said. “Successful events like the auction today reiterate this and help propel conversations about clean energy and energy efficiency forward.”