Only four of the nine qualified companies took place in the auction. Avangrid beat competition from Norwegian developer Statoil, which at a record amount.
Wpd offshore and local group Wind Future also took part in the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) lease sale.
The auction went for 17 rounds, with a final bid for the 495-square-kilometre area reaching $9.067 million.
Canadian energy firm Enbridge, Dutch oil company Shell, Gemini developer Northland Power, the US arm of PNE Wind, and Apex Clean Energy-owned Out Banks Ocean Energy did not bid, despite qualifying for the auction.
The US' National Renewable Energy Laboratory the area could accommodate just under 1.5GW of offshore wind capacity.
"Between our leading position in the United States, including North Carolina, where we operate a wind farm near Elizabeth City, along with the expertise and experience of our international affiliate, Iberdrola Group, in developing offshore wind in Europe, we felt we were well positioned to secure this bid," said Avangrid CEO James Torgerson.
Avangrid recently completed the 208MW Amazon Wind Farm US East project, the state's first onshore wind project.
The company's majority owner, Spainish developer Iberdrola, is also currently in the process of building the 350MW Wikinger project off Germany. It part-owns the 389MW West of Duddon Sands project off the UK's west coast.
Iberdrola also owns the company developing the 714MW East Anglia One project on the UK's east coast and is part of a consortium developing offshore wind projects in France.
"The same winds that once lifted the first powered flight above North Carolina's Outer Banks could soon power thousands if not millions of American homes," said American Wind Energy Association direcotor of offshore wind and federal legislative affairs Nancy Sopko.
BOEM has now raised $65 million in seven competitive sales for US offshore wind leases.
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