Wednesday, August 30, 2023

Gulf of Mexico’s first offshore wind farm lease auction won’t be going in the record books, but it is a nice modest start to the industry!

Happy Wednesday and welcome back to another day of ESC News Blog.

There’s been a couple articles in The Houston Chronicle’s Business Section the last couple days in response to the first offshore wind action auction for the Gulf of Mexico.  Did anyone happen to see The Houston Chronicle’s Business Section on August 30, 2023, their article titled, “Offshore auction draws little interest – German energy firm agrees to pay $5.6 million to develop massive wind farm off Lake Charles”?  In the article, it speaks about the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) first Gulf of Mexico offshore wind lease auction which happened yesterday, August 29, 2023, which had an area off Lake Charles (102,480-acres) and two off Galveston Island (102,480-acres and 96,786-acres) which were on the bidding block.  RWE Offshore US Gulf, a German energy company won the bid with $5.6 million far less than an offshore wind lease goes for in the Atlantic, but still a good start for the Gulf Coast.  Unfortunately, the Galveston Island acreage received no bids, but this isn’t surprising considering Texas is a leader in wind energy onshore, electric is cheaper in Texas, higher risk of hurricanes, and less wind speed, than the Northeast Coast.  There wasn’t anything about what’s next for the acreage that wasn’t leased or what area is next on the bidding block for offshore wind energy.  If you would like to read more of The Houston Chronicle’s article for free on MSN Start, please click the link: First offshore wind auction in Gulf draws limited interest (msn.com).

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We hope you have a wonderful evening and a great week!

**Disclaimer: You may be charged a fee to read The Houston Chronicle’s article. **