Oil & gas giant Shell has filed the required documents to qualify for bidding at an upcoming offshore wind lease sale in Massachusetts, due to take place this fall, according to Bloomberg Environment .
Offshore WIND has contacted Shell asking for confirmation, with the company yet to respond.
Bloomberg Environment cited Shell’s spokesperson as saying that the company submitted the necessary papework to to the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), while BOEM’s spokesperson declined to confirm the companies that applied for getting qualified for the auction.
In April 2018, BOEM issued a Proposed Sale Notice (PSN), requesting public comments on the proposal to auction two additional wind energy areas off Massachusetts: Lease OCS-A 0502 (248,015ha) and Lease OCS-A 0503 (140,554ha).
The PSN also requested the affirmation of continued interest from any prospective bidders already eligible for commercial wind energy development offshore Massachusetts, and submission of the required qualification materials from any prospective bidders that BOEM had not previously qualified for a lease sale in the state.
In 2016, Massachusetts enacted legislation requiring utilities to enter into long-term contract for 1,600MW of offshore wind power not later than 30 June, 2027.
In a recent competitive bid procedure, the 800MW Vineyard Wind project was selected to proceed, with the remaining bidders being Bay State Wind (a joint venture between Ørsted and Eversource) and Deepwater Wind, which also hold commercial offshore wind leases in Massachusetts.
Shell, which is part of a consortium that will build the Borssele III & IV offshore wind project in the Netherlands, was among the nine eligible bidders for the area offshore Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, but ultimately decided not to bid at the commercial lease sale held in March 2017.
Offshore WIND Staff