At the offshore wind auction held by the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) on November 9, 2015, RES Americas Developments Inc. secured the rights to develop one of the two leases that were awarded. The lease comprises an area that could potentially accommodate more than 1000MW of offshore wind. Following approval from BOEM, the lease will be taken over by DONG Energy, the global market leader in developing, building and operating offshore wind farms. RES Americas will continue to support development of the lease area as agreed with DONG Energy.
The New Jersey lease is the second U.S. lease area for DONG Energy. The acquisition of the company’s first U.S. lease area was approved by BOEM in June 2015 along the coast of Massachusetts.
Samuel Leupold, Executive Vice President of Wind Power, said, “The U.S. is an interesting market for offshore wind with the potential to become a significant area for future development. With the transfer of the offshore wind development projects in the U.S., we are broadening our international scope. The site conditions are quite similar to those we currently work with in North-Western Europe which means that the project could be developed using well-known technology.”
The New Jersey lease has a total size of 160,480 acres and is located approximately ten nautical miles offshore. The average water depth is approximately 80 feet.
Thomas Brostrøm, General Manager of North America, Wind Power, said, “DONG Energy’s entry into New Jersey is extremely exciting. As the world leader of offshore wind development, I look forward to developing a pipeline of projects in the U.S. and potentially an industry.”
The information provided in this announcement does not change DONG Energy’s previous financial guidance for the 2015 financial year or the announced expected investment level for 2015-2016.
