December 14, 2018 — Companies competed Thursday for the opportunity to install wind turbines in Atlantic waters off Massachusetts in an auction that shattered records even as it headed toward a second day of frenzied bidding.

After 24 rounds of sealed bidding, companies had already pledged $285 million toward the three offshore wind leases that are up for grabs — more than six times the previous high-water mark: Norwegian energy company Equinor ASA’s $42.47 million bid in 2016 for the rights to build an offshore wind farm near New York.

High bids in the offshore wind auction, set to resume Friday, also already eclipsed the $178 million the U.S. government collected in its August sale of offshore drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico.

By Thursday evening, when Interior Department officials called an overnight halt to the auction, four companies were still vying for the territory, drawn by growing demand for renewable power in the Northeast U.S. and a chance at gaining a foothold in the nation’s growing offshore wind market.

“The unprecedented interest in today’s sale demonstrates that not only has offshore wind arrived in the U.S., but it is set to soar,” said Randall Luthi, head of the National Ocean Industries Association.

Active Bidders

Some 19 companies were deemed qualified by the Interior Department to participate in the auction — higher than in any of the previous seven competitive sales of wind leases in U.S. waters. The prospective bidders included units of established offshore wind developers and renewable power companies that have primarily focused on land as well as oil companies such as Equinor and Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

Eleven companies were actively bidding at the start of Thursday’s sale, nearly twice the most-recent record, in 2016, when six developers competed for the New York offering. The Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which is conducting the sale, will name participants after the auction ends, expected sometime Friday.

Read the full story at Bloomberg