RWE wins in first US offshore wind auction in the Gulf of Mexico

RWE secured the OCS-G 37334 area with a bid of $5.6 million. A total of three lease areas with potential for offshore wind projects with a total installed capacity of more than 3.7 gigawatts (GW) have been awarded in the first auction for areas in the Gulf of Mexico conducted by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).

Sven Utermöhlen, CEO RWE Offshore Wind, said, “With today’s success in the Gulf of Mexico, RWE continues to build its position in the U.S. offshore wind industry. In 2022 we entered the U.S. offshore market and quickly expanded from coast-to-coast. Entering a new region in the Gulf is an exciting milestone to further deploy over 20 years of expertise across the value chain and deliver a new energy resource into the region. We look forward to shaping this new market together with our stakeholders to activate the full potential of offshore wind for the region.”

Located 44 miles off the coast of Louisiana in water depths of 10 to 20 meters, this will allow RWE to install wind farms with a capacity of up to 2 GW on the leased area, enough to supply more than 350,000 U.S. households with green energy. The wind farms are currently expected to be operational in the mid-2030s.

RWE further announced that it will now intensify collaboration with local communities, indigenous peoples, commercial and recreational fisheries, and other ocean users, and work closely with the local supply chain to create new local jobs.

Two other lease areas in the auction, Galveston I and II, both off the Texas coast, received no bids in the auction, which ran for two rounds.