The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will host the first competitive lease auction Tuesday for eight areas in the Gulf of Maine that federal officials want to develop into commercial offshore wind farms.
Six of the potential wind plots are located off outer Cape Cod. The remaining two sites are off the Maine coast. In total, the sites encompass about 850,000 acres.
If leased and developed entirely, federal officials say these areas have the potential to generate up to 13 gigawatts of wind energy, enough to power 4.5 million homes.
Qualified bidders can win no more than two leases each in the Gulf of Maine. If leases are issued, developers must then go through a lengthy permitting process for each site before construction can begin.
The auction will be held exactly one week before Election Day. Wind energy advocates and others have said that the outcome of the upcoming presidential race could impact the Gulf of Maine projects.
