Avangrid Secures Two Lease Areas in Gulf of Maine Floating Wind Auction

Business Wire 29-Oct-2024 12:56 PM

Avangrid adds to Iberdrola Group floating wind portfolio, secures Lease Areas OCS-A 0564 and OCS-A 0568 with the potential to deliver approximately 3 Gigawatts of clean energy to New England region

Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE:AGR), a leading sustainable energy company and member of the Iberdrola Group, today announced it has secured two lease areas in the auction of sites for offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine held by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). Avangrid was named provisional winner of lease areas OCS-A 0564 (98,565 acres) for $4.9 million and OCS-A 0568 (124,897 acres) for $6.2 million. Avangrid will work to develop the lease areas, with the potential to deliver 3 Gigawatts of clean power, to help meet the energy needs of the New England region and advance the United States 30 GW offshore wind target. The lease areas also enable Avangrid to help progress floating wind technology, as the next generation of offshore wind development is increasingly sited in deeper waters.

"Avangrid is proud to secure two lease areas in today's auction with the potential to deliver 3 Gigawatts of clean energy to the New England region, which affirms our position as a national leader in the United States' offshore wind industry and builds on the Iberdrola Group's global floating wind portfolio," said Avangrid CEO Pedro Azagra. "Securing these lease areas provides a unique opportunity to advance our growing business at a significant value, and reinforces our unwavering commitment to helping the New England region meet its growing need for reliable, clean energy."

Lease areas OCS-A 0564 and OCS-A 0568, located in the southwest region of the Gulf of Maine development area approximately 30 nautical miles from shore, offer strong wind speeds; relatively shallow waters within the limits of existing floating wind technology; access to multiple interconnection points; and are largely deconflicted from other ocean users following a rigorous federal public engagement process.

In August 2024, ISO New England issued a draft report, Economic Planning for the Clean Energy Transition, which found that in order to meet its energy needs and state climate targets, the New England region will need approximately 34 Gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2050. To reach this goal, a sizable percentage of new offshore wind in New England will need to utilize floating wind technology.

Not including the lease area secured today, Avangrid has a projected offshore wind pipeline of over 5 GW on the East Coast of the United States – enough to power more than two million households. In addition to the Vineyard Wind 1 project (800 Megawatts (MW), of which Avangrid is a 50% owner, Avangrid owns 100% of New England Wind 1 (791 MW), New England Wind 2 (1,079 MW), and Kitty Hawk Wind South (2400 MW off the coast of Virginia and North Carolina). With today's result, Avangrid has the largest offshore development portfolio in the Northeast region by total acreage.

In addition to its substantial experience developing projects in the U.S. market, including the Vineyard Wind 1 project, Avangrid is positioned to leverage the global expertise of Iberdrola, which is pioneering floating offshore wind in Europe and secured the rights to develop 5 GW of floating wind as part of the ScotWind auction in January 2022.

As one of the largest renewable energy developers in the nation, Avangrid has a 9 GW portfolio of more than 75 wind and solar facilities in 25 states, generating enough energy to power over 2.8 million homes across the country.

In September 2024, Avangrid's 791 Megawatts (MW) New England Wind 1 project was selected by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the multi-state regional offshore wind solicitation. New England Wind 1 is an offshore wind development located in federal lease area OCS-A-0534, roughly 30 miles south of Barnstable, Massachusetts and making landfall under the Craigville Beach parking lot in Barnstable. The project will border Vineyard Wind 1, Avangrid's first large-scale offshore wind project currently under construction 15 miles south of Martha's Vineyard.

About Avangrid: Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE:AGR) aspires to be the leading sustainable energy company in the United States. Headquartered in Orange, CT with approximately $45 billion in assets and operations in 24 U.S. states, Avangrid has two primary lines of business: networks and renewables. Through its networks business, Avangrid owns and operates eight electric and natural gas utilities, serving more than 3.3 million customers in New York and New England. Through its renewables business, Avangrid owns and operates a portfolio of renewable energy generation facilities across the United States. Avangrid employs approximately 8,000 people and has been recognized by JUST Capital as one of the JUST 100 companies – a ranking of America's best corporate citizens – in 2024 for the fourth consecutive year. In 2024, Avangrid ranked first among utilities and 12 overall. The company supports the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goals and was named among the World's Most Ethical Companies in 2024 for the sixth consecutive year by the Ethisphere Institute. Avangrid is a member of the group of companies controlled by Iberdrola, S.A. For more information, visit www.Avangrid.com.

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