LA - German company wins bid on Gulf of Mexico’s first offshore wind energy lease

The winning bidder, RWE, is a Germany-based holding company engaged in electricity generation and storage systems. It has experience with a wide range of renewable energies and is one of the world’s largest offshore wind developers.

The lease off the coast of Lake Charles has the potential to generate approximately 1.24 gigawatts of wind energy, enough to power nearly 435,400 homes, according to the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

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Read also

$5.6 million bid for one offshore tract marks modest start for Gulf of Mexico wind energy, The San Diego Union-Tribune / August 29, 2023

‍GoM: RWE grows U.S. offshore wind development portfolio by 2-gigawatt in BOEM’s first-ever offshore wind lease auction in the Gulf of Mexico, energy-pedia / August 30, 2023

$5.6 million bid for one offshore location marks modest start for Gulf of Mexico wind energy, PBS NewsHour / August 30, 2023

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Two other areas up for auction received no bids. The Gulf lease result stands in contrast to other recent auctions off the coasts of New Jersey, California and the Carolinas that attracted billions. Those states and others have required utilities to diversify their energy sources with renewables.

Louisiana’s utility companies, which rely largely on natural gas, have until now been slower to make significant investments in renewables. RWE and Entergy Louisiana developed a partnership earlier this year to support offshore wind development.

Simon Mahan, executive director of the Southern Renewable Energy Association, said the next steps for RWE will be to conduct site assessments for the next few years and determine if there’s an appetite to move forward with construction.

“Expanding the transmission system will be vitally important to connect these offshore wind resources to Louisiana,” Mahan said.

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