July 26, 2023 — Last week, the White House announced the first offshore wind power auction in the Gulf of Mexico will take place next month.
The Biden administration will allocate leases for a 102,480-acre area of federal waters off the coast of Lake Charles in Louisiana and two areas offshore Galveston, Texas totalling around 200,000 acres.
In May, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) found no significant environmental impact from offshore wind leasing on a 30-million-acre area, paving the way for the first lease sales that could host 3.6 GW of capacity.
A number of companies have prequalified for the sale, including oil and gas groups Shell, Equinor and TotalEnergies, but the first turbines could in fact be installed in Louisiana state waters.
Louisiana aims to install 5 GW of offshore wind by 2035 and the state’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is in talks with two offshore wind developers for projects in state waters, DNR confirmed to Reuters Events.