US Wind will pay $8.7m for the lease area, which has an operations term of 25 years. The lease area is located about 10nm offshore Ocean City, Maryland.
According to Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the Maryland wind energy area could support between 850MW and 1450MW of commercial wind generation.
As part of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan to create American jobs, develop domestic clean energy sources and cut carbon pollution, the BOEM earlier auctioned the Maryland wind energy area as two leases which include the North Lease Area (32,737 acres) and the South Lease Area (46,970 acres).
The wind energy area, upon completion, is expected to generate enough energy to power about 300,000 homes.
The latest auction follows BOEM’s awards of five commercial wind energy leases off the Atlantic coast, which generated over $5m in winning bids for more than 277,500 acres in federal waters.
BOEM is also planning to hold additional competitive auctions for wind energy areas offshore New Jersey and Massachusetts in 2015.
