Avangrid was named provisional winner of lease areas OCS-A 0564 (98,565 acres) for $4.9 million and OCS-A 0568 (124,897 acres) for $6.2 million. Avangrid will work to develop the lease areas, with the potential to deliver 3 Gigawatts of clean power, to help meet the energy needs of the New England region and advance the United States 30 GW offshore wind target. The lease areas also enable Avangrid to help progress floating wind technology, as the next generation of offshore wind development is increasingly sited in deeper waters.
“Avangrid is proud to secure two lease areas in today’s auction with the potential to deliver 3 Gigawatts of clean energy to the New England region, which affirms our position as a national leader in the United States’ offshore wind industry and builds on the Iberdrola Group’s global floating wind portfolio,” said Avangrid CEO Pedro Azagra.
Lease areas OCS-A 0564 and OCS-A 0568, located in the southwest region of the Gulf of Maine development area approximately 30 nautical miles from shore, offer strong wind speeds; relatively shallow waters within the limits of existing floating wind technology; access to multiple interconnection points; and are largely deconflicted from other ocean users following a rigorous federal public engagement process.
In August 2024, ISO New England issued a draft report, Economic Planning for the Clean Energy Transition, which found that in order to meet its energy needs and state climate targets, the New England region will need approximately 34 Gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2050. To reach this goal, a sizable percentage of new offshore wind in New England will need to utilize floating wind technology.
Not including the lease area secured today, Avangrid has a projected offshore wind pipeline of over 5 GW on the East Coast of the United States – enough to power more than two million households. In addition to the Vineyard Wind 1 project (800 Megawatts (MW), of which Avangrid is a 50% owner, Avangrid owns 100% of New England Wind 1 (791 MW), New England Wind 2 (1,079 MW), and Kitty Hawk Wind South (2400 MW off the coast of Virginia and North Carolina). With today’s result, Avangrid has the largest offshore development portfolio in the Northeast region by total acreage.
In addition to its substantial experience developing projects in the U.S. market, including the Vineyard Wind 1 project, Avangrid is positioned to leverage the global expertise of Iberdrola, which is pioneering floating offshore wind in Europe and secured the rights to develop 5 GW of floating wind as part of the ScotWind auction in January 2022.
