Ocean Winds, ENGIE’s 50/50 joint venture with EDPR dedicated to offshore wind, has been awarded a 289 km2 lease area in the New York Bight offshore wind energy auction, for a site with a capacity of up to 1.7 GW.

Ocean Winds East, LCC, the partnership between Ocean Winds and New York-based Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a leading independent infrastructure fund manager, was named as the winning bidder of the right to lease a 289 km² area, Central Bight, off the coast of New York and New Jersey. This lease area was part of the six offshore sites awarded by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)’s “New York Bight” program.

This award sets the stage for development of a state-of-the-art offshore wind project. When fully developed, this bottom-fixed farm, located 38 miles off the coast of New York and 53 miles off the coast of New Jersey, is expected to contribute up to 1.7 GW towards U.S., New York/New Jersey’s clean energy goals.

Ocean Winds is thus reinforcing its presence in the U.S. where it is developing, through Mayflower Wind, a lease area of over 2 GW, of which 1.2 GW already secured through Power Purchase Agreements. With this sizeable platform, Ocean Winds will benefit from a sound position to capture future growth in the country which targets a 30 GW offshore wind installed capacity by 2030.

The U.S. BOEM’s auction of the New York Bight lease areas began on February 23^th and was completed on February 25^th, after 63 rounds. The total amount paid for the six lease areas was $4.37 billion, including Ocean Winds East, LLC, successful bid of $765 million for lease area OCS-A 0537.

This site brings Ocean Winds’ global total offshore wind gross capacity already operating, contracted or with grid connection rights granted to 11 GW.

Paulo ALMIRANTE, ENGIE Senior Executive Vice President, in charge of Renewables, Energy Management and Nuclear Activities, said:

“ENGIE, through Ocean Winds has been awarded this 39-year lease agreement in the highly competitive New York Bight auction process, amongst the 25 entities qualified to bid. It will allow Ocean Winds to strengthen its footprint in the U.S., one of the biggest offshore wind markets worldwide, and support the growth objective of ENGIE in the country, where it already operates 3.9 GW of onshore wind and solar PV.” 

Source: PR NewsWire