The installations will be spread across both federal and state waters and the awards will cover engineering, design and deployment activities.
Each project will inccur an initial investment of $4m to accomplish the engineering, design and permitting phase of the award.
The department will select three of these projects for the further phases, which includes siting, construction and installation with projects expected to be operational by 2017.
The selected projects will receive about $47m funding spread acorss a 4-year term, based on the Congressional appropriations.
Commenting on the awards US Energy Secretary Steven Chu remarked that the country has vast untapped resources that will now be developed in an economically viable manner.
"Today’s announcement of awards to the first offshore wind projects in the US paves the way to a cleaner, more sustainable and more diverse domestic energy portfolio that develops every source of American energy," added Chu.
Various US departments such energy, interio will work together to overcome technical and market challenges and aide the growth of the offshore sector in the country.
