EDP among winners of the first offshore wind auction on the US West Coast

The United States went ahead with the first auction for licenses to explore offshore wind energy on the country's West Coast, having raised 757.1 million dollars (720.6 million euros). The tender was dominated by European companies, including a joint venture in which the EDP group participates was among the winners.

EDP Renováveis informed the market on Thursday that its joint venture with Engie, Ocean Winds, entered the auction together with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

This project, Golden State Wind, was named "as the winning bidder for an 80,418-acre area for a price of $150.3 million, which can reach up to 2 GW of capacity, in the Morro Bay area on California's Central Coast," the company announced to CMVM.

The "lease" area was awarded by the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) in an auction for five offshore areas. According to Reuters, the auction took place between Tuesday and Wednesday, and is a milestone in the global expansion of floating offshore wind.

The remaining lot winners included Norway's Equinor, Denmark's Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Germany's RWE, according to the financial agency. The only one of the five companies awarded licenses that is not European is the US-based Invenergy.

"With today's announcement, EDP, through its associate OW, increases the visibility of its growth in the offshore wind segment, with capacity in operation, contracted or with grid connection rights reaching 16.6 GW, thus broadening and diversifying EDP's long-term profitable growth options while maintaining a balanced risk profile," the Portuguese company adds.