The U.S. government chose winning bids Tuesday to develop wind power in the Gulf of Maine in the first commercial sale for floating offshore wind on the Atlantic coast.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management held a lease sale and selected nearly $22 million in winning bids for four lease areas from two firms.
Two of the leases went to Avangrid Renewables for areas about 35 miles from Massachusetts. The other two leases went to Invenergy NE Offshore Wind for areas about 25 miles from Massachusetts. The four areas combined are more than 625 square miles.
Environmentalists praised the lease sale, though commercial fishermen who have questioned the expansion of offshore wind said they remain opposed. The lease areas are in the Gulf of Maine, which is a critical fishing ground for the U.S. lobster industry.
The leased areas have the potential to power more than 2.3 million homes, the Interior Department said in a statement.
The Maine Lobstermen’s Association characterized the lease sale as “another dangerous step toward the industrialization of one of the world’s most productive marine ecosystems.”
