The next competitive offshore wind auction in the Gulf of Mexico will be in 2026, the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced.
This comes despite the incoming president, Donald Trump, saying he will stop offshore wind on “day one”. He will be inaugurated on 20 January.
BOEM announced this week that the auction for leases will be held because there is a “competitive interest” in the wind energy areas. Hecate Energy and Invenergy have expressed interest.
Both companies have submitted unsolicited lease requests, it emerged in November.
“The Gulf of Mexico remains an attractive option for offshore wind energy development,” said Gulf of Mexico regional director Jim Kendall. “We are excited about the future of this emerging sector in the region.”
His comment came despite BOEM cancelling a second auction for offshore wind seabed leases in the region after only Hecate bid.
BOEM now says it will now move forward with the competitive lease process, releasing draft wind energy areas for public input early next year.
Hecate has applied for a lease for the Gulf Wind 2 project, of around 3GW off the coast of south-east Texas. It would consist of up to 133 fixed-bottom wind turbines, each with a capacity of 15-23MW.
Invenergy has proposed building an offshore wind project consisting of 140 fixed-bottom turbines with 15MW-plus power ratings, contributing to a total project capacity of more than 2.1GW.
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