New York Bight Lease Sale Days 2 & 3

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February 25, 2022, by Adrijana Buljan

This article comprises round-by-round updates from the New York Bight lease sale’s second and third day, and a link to Day 1 updates. For the news on the auction results, go to the news below:

Round 63: The asking price for the biggest site has now climbed to USD 1.1 billion with one bidder in, as well as for the smallest lease site, OCS-A 0544, which saw two bids for USD 275 million.

Compared to the previous round, OCS-A 0538 now had one one live bid for USD 795 million set in Round 62.

Round 62: Two bids were in for USD 1.07 billion for OCS-A 0539, the most popular and expensive site in the New York Bight offshore wind lease sale.

The bid prices and the number of bids for the six areas in this round were as follows:

OCS-A 0537: bid price USD 765 million, one bid
OCS-A 0538: bid price USD 795 million, no bids
OCS-A 0539: bid price USD 1,070 million, two bids
OCS-A 0541: bid price USD 780 million, one bid
OCS-A 0542: bid price USD 645 million, no bids
OCS-A 0544: bid price USD 265 million, two bids

Round 61: No changes for the biggest site and the OCS-A 0537 area in Central Bight in the latest round.

Price-wise, OCS-A 0542 registered a change and was offered for USD 645 million now, with no bidders at this time. Its adjacent site, OCS-A 0541, now saw a live bid for the price set in round 56.

OCS-A 0538, located to the northeast of the biggest lease site, now had two bidders for the price shown in the last three rounds., and the smallest lease area, OCS-A 0544, also marked two bids in this round for USD 255 million for which it had one bid in each of the two previous rounds.

Round 60: The status for five out of six sites remains the same as in Round 59, with the change being for OCS-A 0542 which now reached a price of USD 620 million. Three bids were recorded for this site in the latest round.

The bid prices and the number of bids for the six areas in the 60th round were as follows:

OCS-A 0537: bid price USD 765 million, one bid
OCS-A 0538: bid price USD 770 million, one bid
OCS-A 0539: bid price USD 1,070 million, one bid
OCS-A 0541: bid price USD 780 million, no bids
OCS-A 0542: bid price USD 620 million, three bids
OCS-A 0544: bid price USD 255 million, one bid

For the first four lease sites, the above status is shown for at least the last three rounds, and it has been the same for the sixth site for the last two rounds. When it comes to OCS-A 0541, the last time it had active bids was in Round 55 at a price of USD 755 million.

Quick fact: With over USD 4 billion in total bids so far, the first US offshore wind lease sale organised under the Biden-Harris Administration has secured the US Treasury more than 20 times the amount the first oil & gas lease sale under this administration yielded in November 2021.

This oil & gas lease sale, held for areas in the Gulf of Mexico, was quashed by the District Court in Washington, D.C., last month, following a lawsuit by four environmental groups which argued that the environmental analysis that the administration had relied on for the auction was “fatally flawed” and that the oil & gas lease sale could preclude planned activities to conduct offshore wind auctions in the Gulf of Mexico.

Round 59: Only two lease sites saw changes in this round, compared to Round 58, OCS-A 0542 with a price of USD 595 million and three bidders, and OCS-A 0544 with one bid at USD 255 million.

Round 58: The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has collected a total of USD 4.17 billion so far in the country’s biggest ever offshore wind auction. This is considering all the lease sites with live bids in Round 58, five of them, and the latest recorded price with a live bid for one of the areas.

The biggest lease site stood at USD 1.07 billion and one bidder, just like in the previous round.

The bid prices and the number of bids for all the six areas in the 55th round were as follows:

OCS-A 0537: bid price USD 765 million, one bid
OCS-A 0538: bid price USD 770 million, one bid
OCS-A 0539: bid price USD 1,070 million, one bid
OCS-A 0541: bid price USD 780 million, no bids
OCS-A 0542: bid price USD 575 million, two bids
OCS-A 0544: bid price USD 240 million, two bids

Round 57: The 125,964-acre lease site in the Hudson South area of the New York Bight climbed to USD 1.07 billion with one bid registered at this price.

The bid prices for all the six areas currently total USD 3.96 billion and the status of the 54th round was as follows:

OCS-A 0537: bid price USD 765 million, one bid
OCS-A 0538: bid price USD 745 million, two bids
OCS-A 0539: bid price USD 1,070 million, one bid
OCS-A 0541: bid price USD 780 million, no bids
OCS-A 0542: bid price USD 550 million, three bids
OCS-A 0544: bid price USD 240 million, one bid

Round 56: One more bidder was in for paying USD 1.04 million for the biggest New York Bight lease area, with its neighbouring lease site seeing one bid for USD 745 million set in the previous round.

OCS-A 0537 was priced at USD 765 million with one live bid in Round 55, same as OCS-A 0544 for USD 240 million.

The asking prices for the two adjacent sites to the south in the New York Bight, OCS-A 0541 and OCS-A 0542, were USD 780 million and USD 530 million, respectively. No bids were placed for the pricier of the two in this round, while OCS-A 0542 saw three live bids.

Round 55: OCS-A 0539 still holding at USD 1.04 billion and one live bid, while the site next to it, OCS-A 0538 was offered for USD 745 million with no bidders in this round.

OCS-A 0542 now went for over USD 500 million with two bidders in, and the site leaning onto it, OCS-A 0541, had three live bids at a price of USD 755 million.

OCS-A 0537 in Central Bight saw two bidders at a price of USD 740 million, while the smallest area, OCS-A 0544 offshore Long Beach in New York, had two bids at USD 240 million.

Round 54: The price for the 125,964-acre lease site in the Hudson South area of the New York Bight was at USD 1.04 billion with one bidder for the third consecutive round.

The bid prices for all the six areas currently total USD 3.96 billion and the status of the 54th round was as follows:

OCS-A 0537: bid price USD 715 million, two bids
OCS-A 0538: bid price USD 720 million, two bids
OCS-A 0539: bid price USD 1,041 million, one bid
OCS-A 0541: bid price USD 755 million, one bid
OCS-A 0542: bid price USD 490 million, two bids
OCS-A 0544: bid price USD 240 million, one bid

Round 53: OCS-A 0539 stands at USD 1.04 billion and one live bid, just as in the previous round, and the status of its neighbouring site OCS-A 0538 also remains unchanged compared to Round 52.

The bid price for OCS-A 0537 climbed to USD 685 million with two bidders.

OCS-A 0541 had one bid for a price of USD 755 million and its adjacent site saw two bidders now for USD 470 million set in the previous round.

Two bidders were still in for OCS-A 0544 after it reached USD 230 million.

Round 52: One bidder was in for USD 1.04 billion for the OCS-A 0539 lease site in federal waters offshore New Jersey.

The asking prices for OCS-A 0537 and OCS-A 0538 remained the same as in the previous round, with OCS-A 0537 having two more live bids.

The two adjacent sites to the south in the New York Bight reached USD 730 million and USD 470 million, with OCS-A 0541 having two live bids and OCS-A 0542 one.

Two bidders were in for the smallest lease site at a price of USD 220 million.

Round 51: The asking price for the 125,964-acre lease site in the Hudson South area of the New York Bight is now more than USD 1 billion and two bidders were in for this amount in the latest round.

The status of the 51st round was as follows:

OCS-A 0537: bid price USD 655 million, one bid
OCS-A 0538: bid price USD 720 million, one bid
OCS-A 0539: bid price USD 1,015 million, two bids
OCS-A 0541: bid price USD 705 million, two bids
OCS-A 0542: bid price USD 450 million, two bids
OCS-A 0544: bid price USD 210 million, two bids

Round 50: OCS-A 0539, the biggest site auctioned in the New York Bight, has hit a price of USD 990 million.

OCS-A 0537 and OCS-A 0538 went for USD 655 million and USD 720 million, respectively, and each had one bidder, with the four other sites each saw two bids in the 50th round.

The price for OCS-A 0541 jumped to USD 680 million and its adjacent OCS-A 0542 stood at USD 430 million.

OCS-A 0544, located in federal waters off Long Beach in New York, completed this round at USD 200 million.

Round 49: Lease prices are mostly unchanged but are slowly but safely hiking up with the biggest lease site getting closer to USD 1 billion.

The 49th round status was as follows:

OCS-A 0537: bid price USD 630 million, two bids
OCS-A 0538: bid price USD 720 million, one bid
OCS-A 0539: bid price USD 960 million, two bids
OCS-A 0541: bid price USD 650 million, three bids
OCS-A 0542: bid price USD 430 million, one bid
OCS-A 0544: bid price USD 190 million, two bids

Round 48: OCS-A 0539 completed this round with a price of USD 960 million and one bid, while one more site crossed the USD 600 million milestone as OCS-A 0541 reached USD 620 million with four bidders in for this price. Its adjacent site was priced at USD 430 million and saw one bid.

Status of OCS-A 0537 and OCS-A 0538 was unchanged compared to the previous round.

OCS-A 0544 reached USD 170 million and had four bidders.

Round 47: The biggest offshore wind area on the New York Bight lease sale, OCS-A 0539, started Day 3 at USD 930 million and one live bid. The area next to it and the second most expensive so far, OCS-A 0538, had one bidder for USD 720 million in this round, as did OCS-A 0537 for USD 630 million.

Each of the two connected sites south-southwest of the biggest area, OCS-A 0541 and OCS-A 0542, had two active bids at prices of USD 595 million and USD 410 million, respectively.

The smallest of the areas, OCS-A 0544, now saw four bidders at USD 150 million.

The US Government is resuming its biggest offshore wind lease sale ever today, 25 February, after finishing 46 rounds yesterday and reaching a total of USD 3.31 billion in total bids for the six sites offered in the New York Bight offshore wind auction.

The biggest and the most expensive lease site, OCS-A 0539 in the Hudson South area, was at USD 900 million, which is more than double the record amount BOEM got in 2018 in total bids for leases offshore Massachusetts.

Its neighbouring lease site, OCS-A 0538, saw no bids in the last 46th round at a price of USD 720 million, after having two bidders in Round 45 for USD 690 million.

The biggest lease site could accommodate a minimum of 1,387 MW of installed offshore wind capacity, while the smallest site, OCS-A 0544 offshore Long Beach in New York, has an installed capacity potential of at least 523 MW.

As reported earlier, BOEM pre-qualified 25 companies and consortia for the New York bight lease sale by mid-January, after which they needed to meet further requirements outlined in the Final Sale notice, including making a USD 5 million bid deposit.

The list of eligible bidders shows the biggest names from the offshore wind sector, but also from oil and gas, including Shell, BP, Equinor, RWE, SSE Renewables, Ocean Winds, and Iberdrola’s Avangrid Renewables, among others. Ørsted is also an eligible bidder, but through a company under a different name, which the developer is keeping a secret until after the auction is completed.

Read the recap of Day 1 and round-by-round updates in our article from 23 February and scroll down for Day 2 round-by-round updates:

New York Bight Lease Sale Day 2: Round-by-Round

Round 46: The lease site OCS-A 0539 is now priced at USD 900 million and had two live bids in this round.

The next priciest is OCS-A 0538 at USD 720 million, but it had no bids in the 46th round, followed with OCS-A 0537 at USD 630 million and one bidder in.

The most bidders in this round had OCS-A 0541 for an bidding price of USD 570 million, while the area next to it saw two bidders for a price of USD 390 million.

OCS-A 0544 reached USD 140 million and received two live bids in the last round for the day.

Round 45: The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has informed that the lease will take one more day, after completing the 45th round with three bids for the biggest site at USD 860 million, followed by its neighbouring lease area at USD 690 million and two bidders, and OCS-A 0537 in Central Bight at USD 600 million and two live bids.

The two adjacent sites to the south in the New York Bight reached bidding prices of USD 570 million and USD 365 million, with one having one live bid and the other two.

Two bidders were in for the smallest area, located off Long Beach in New York and priced at USD 130 million in Round 45.

Round 44: The New York Bight offshore wind auction has now crossed the USD 3 billion threshold with all six sites having live bids and the biggest site priced at USD 820 million.

The 44th round status was as follows:

OCS-A 0537: bid price USD 570 million, two bids
OCS-A 0538: bid price USD 690 million, one bid
OCS-A 0539: bid price USD 820 million, three bids
OCS-A 0541: bid price USD 540 million, two bids
OCS-A 0542: bid price USD 340 million, two bids
OCS-A 0544: bid price USD 120 million, two bids

Round 43: The 1.4 GW lease area, OCS-A 0539, hit USD 820 million in the latest round, with one active bid.

The neighbouring OCS-A 0538 had three bidders taking the offer of USD 665 million and OCS-A 0537 in Central Bight had one bid for USD 570 million.

To the southwest, OCS-A 0541 stood at USD 515 million with three bidders and the adjacent OCS-A 0542 saw one bid at USD 340 million.

The 500 MW lease site, OCS-A 0544, had three live bids for USD 110 million.

Round 42: OCS-A 0539, the biggest lease site in the New York Bight, has reached a price USD 795 million which was met by two bidders. The next priciest offshore wind site is to its northeast, OCS-A 0538, with a USD 640 million asking price in this round and three live bids.

Two bidders were in for OCS-A 0537 for USD 545 million.

OCS-A 0541 (one bidder) and OCS-A 0542 (three bidders), in the Hudson South area, were at USD 515 million and USD 320 million, respectively.

OCS-A 0544 was running for the same bidding price of USD 110 million and had one live bid.

Round 41: The lease prices in the New York Bight offshore wind auction are now amounting to USD 2.83 billion.

The asking price for OCS-A 0538 reached USD 615 million which was met with three bidders, while the neighbouring and the biggest site, OCS-A 0539, now had four live bids for USD 755 million.

OCS-A 0541 had two bidders for USD 490 million and its adjacent area OCS-A 0542 had one bid at USD 320 million.

The smallest of the six sites, OCS-A 0544, now got its first bids for USD 100 million after 21 rounds with no bidders in sight; however, OCS-A 0537 in Central Bight, now completed its first round with zero active bids at a price of USD 545 million.

Round 40: The New York Bight offshore wind lease sale has now reached USD 2.69 billion, with the latest round completed with prices and bids as follows (see map below for lease site and capacity information):

OCS-A 0537: bid price USD 520 million, two bids
OCS-A 0538: bid price USD 580 million, four bids
OCS-A 0539: bid price USD 755 million, one bid
OCS-A 0541: bid price USD 465 million, three bids
OCS-A 0542: bid price USD 300 million, two bids
OCS-A 0544: bid price USD 100 million, no bids (last active bid price was USD 75 million)

Round 39: Two lease sites are now priced at more than USD 500 million, along with the biggest site which still stands at USD 715 million.

OCS-A 0537 had one bid for USD 520 million in the latest round, and OCS-A 0538 reached USD 555 million with two bids placed.

Two bidders were in for OCS-A 0541 at a bidding price of USD 440 million and three bids were placed for the adjacent OCS-A 0542 at USD 285 million.

Round 38: One more site has gone beyond half of a billion dollars with OCS-a 0538, located in Hudson South and right next to the biggest lease site, seeing two bidders taking the offered price of USD 530 million.

The status of the biggest of the six lease areas, OCS-A 0539, was unchanged compared to the previous round, with one bidder and a price of USD 715 million.

The asking price for OCS-A 0537 in the Central Bight area reached USD 495 million and marked two live bids.

The number of bids for USD 415 million offered for OCS-A 0541 in Hudson South climbed to five in this round, and its adjacent site OCS-A 0542 went for USD 270 million with two live bids.

OCS-A 0544 is still being offered for USD 100 million without active bids.

Round 37: The New York Bight lease sale is now well over USD 2 billion in bids, and the asking price for the 125,964-acre lease site in the Hudson South area of the New York Bight jumped to USD 715 million in the latest round, with one bidder in for this amount.

OCS-A 0537 and OCS-A 0538 went for USD 470 million and USD 490 million, respectively, with OCS-A 0541 going for USD 415 million and its adjacent OCS-A 0542 for USD 255 million.

OCS-A 0544, located in federal waters off Long Beach in New York, is still not seeing any bids for USD 100 million, after having three bidders for USD 75 million yesterday.

Round 36: Five bidders were in for OCS-A 0539 for USD 675 million, with OCS-A 0537 and OCS-A 0538 offered for USD 445 million and USD 465 million, respectively.

OCS-A 0541 had its first bid for a price of USD 415 million, after no bidders in the last three rounds and its adjacent site OCS-A 0542 saw two bidders for USD 255 million.

There were no bids for the smallest of the areas, OCS-A 0544.

Round 35: The OCS-A 0539 lease site in the New York Bight reached a price of USD 645 million with three bidders in. OCS-A 0537 and OCS-A 0538 were offered for USD 420 million and USD 440 million, respectively, and had two live bids.

OCS-A 0542 had five bidders for USD 225 million, while OCS-A 0541 and OCS-A 0544 remain without bids.

Round 34: The US might earn more than USD 2 billion from its New York Bight offshore wind lease sale as bidders for four of the six sites were in for the asking prices totalling USD 1.66 billion, and with further USD 515 million “in the hold” for two sites that saw no bidders in this round.

The USD 2 billion mark would be also topped with the last active bids for the two sites of USD 395 million and USD 75 million, should the auction end with all sites awarded per their last active price.

Round 33: Seven bids were in for OCS-A 0538, the lease area to the northeast of the biggest site, which went for USD 390 million in the latest round.

The biggest, most expensive site saw four bidders in Round 33 for a price of USD 585 million and OCS-A 0537, in Central Bight, now reached USD 400 million and had one bid in this round.

OCS-A 0541 saw its first round with no bids as it was offered for USD 415 million, joining its adjacent site OCS-A 0542 as well as OCS-A 0544, which saw another round with no bidders and with the offered prices thus unchanged from the previous one.

Round 32: The OCS-A 0539 lease site in the New York Bight had a whopping six bidders in the latest round which ran this piece of federal waters for USD 555 million.

OCS-A 0537, OCS-A 0538, and OCS-A 0541 continued with price increase of USD 10 million and were offered for USD 380 million, USD 390 million, and USD 395 million, respectively.

OCS-A 0542, the lease site adjacent to OCS-A 0541, saw no bids for the third round in a row for USD 225 million. Its last bids were placed for a price of USD 215 million.

The smallest of the six areas, OCS-A 0544, continued with no live bids for USD 100 million and the last bidders being in for USD 75 million in Round 19 yesterday.

Round 31: Five developers are still bidding for the OCS-A 0539 lease site, even with the price now being well over half of a billion dollars, standing at USD 540 million in the 31st round.

Further USD 10 million was added to the prices of lease sites OCS-A 0537, OCS-A 0538, and OCS-A 0541, with each having either two or three bidders, while OCS-A 0542 and OCS-A 0544 stayed at their price from the previous round(s) and did not have any live bids in this round.

Round 30: Prices for five lease sites increased by USD 10 million, with OCS-A 0544 still running for USD 100 million with no bids at this price.

Round 30 was completed with prices and bids as follows:

OCS-A 0537: bid price USD 360 million, three bids
OCS-A 0538: bid price USD 370 million, two bid
OCS-A 0539: bid price USD 525 million, five bids
OCS-A 0541: bid price USD 375 million, two bids
OCS-A 0542: bid price USD 225 million, no bids
OCS-A 0544: bid price USD 100 million, no bids

Round 29: Three bids were placed in the latest round for the biggest lease site, which ran for a price of USD 515 million.

OCS-A 0537, OCS-A 0538, and OCS-A 0541 also saw, once again, their lease prices rising by further USD 10 million, with OCS-A 0538 now having one live bid more than in Round 28.

OCS-A 0542 also had one bid more for the same price of USD 215 million and OCS-A 0544 went through yet another round with no live bids.

Round 28: OCS-A 0539, the biggest offshore wind site being auctioned in the New York Bight, has now reached a price of USD 500 million, with five bidders still in.

OCS-A 0537, OCS-A 0538, and OCS-A 0541 also saw the same number of bidders remaining through this round too, with lease prices rising by further USD 10 million for each.

OCS-A 0542 had one bidder for USD 215 million in this round, while OCS-A 0544 is still without bids.

Round 27: The biggest site offered in the New York Bight auction now reached a price of USD 485 million and saw five bidders sticking with the area for this amount.

Other sites went up by USD 10 million, except for OCS-A 0544 which stood at USD 100 million for the eight round in a row with no bidders. OCS-A 0542 also had no love bids in this round.

Round 26: The bid prices for four sites are now moving up in “smaller” increments, while the OCS-A 0542 lease area is still at USD 205 million and had three bidders in the latest round, and OCS-A 0544 has gone through another bidding round with no bidders.

Bidding prices for lease areas OCS-A 0537, OCS-A 0538, OCS-A 0539, and OCS-A 0541 were at USD 320 million, USD 330 million, USD 475 million, and USD 335 million, respectively. The biggest site saw three live bids in Round 26, with the remaining three each having two bidders.

Round 25: Prices for three of the most expensive sites now jumped “only” by USD 10 million, with OCS-A 0539 now at USD 460 million and one bidder more than in the previous round, OCS-A 0537 at USD 310 million and three live bids, and OCS-A 0541 at USD 325 million and two bidders.

The bidding price for OCS-A 0538 rose by USD 15 million and stood at USD 320 million in Round 25, with two bidders in for this amount.

OCS-A 0542 now got one bid for USD 205 million set in the previous round, while OCS-A 0544 is yet to see any bids for USD 100 million, the last ones being for USD 75 million in Round 19, held yesterday.

Round 24: OCS-A 0537 now has two bids at USD 300 million. Four more bids at USD 305 million have been submitted for OCS-A 0538 in this round, the area has now attracted five bids in total.

Bidding for OCS-A 0539 is not slowing down and we now have three bids at USD 450 million.

OCS-A 0541 now has two bids at USD 315 million, a USD 10 million bump compared to the previous round.

OCS-A 0542 now has zero bids for USD 205 million, and four USD 190 million bids from the previous round.

There have still been no takers for the USD 100 million offer for OCS-A 0542, the highest bids still stand at USD 75 million.

Round 23: Two lease sites have now hit USD 300 million, as bidding prices for the areas OCS-A 0538 and OCS-A 0541 have both reached USD 305 million.

The biggest site, OCS-A 0539, has 3 live bids at a price of USD 440 million.

OCS-A 0542 now has 4 bids for USD 190 million. OCS-A 0544 is still without bids for the price of USD 100 million, with the three USD 75 million bids from Round 19 still in play.

The OCS-A 0537 site has attracted three USD 290 million bids in Round 23.

Round 22: The lease areas OCS-A 0537, OCS-A 0538, OCS-A 0539, and OCS-A 0541 each saw three live bids in the first round of Day 2, with the bidding prices now at USD 280 million, USD 295 million, USD 430 million, and USD 295 million, respectively.

OCS-A 0542, which leans onto OCS-A 0541 to the east, had one live bid for USD 190 million, while OCS-A 0544, the smallest of the six areas, is still without bids for the price of USD 100 million.

The US Government is resuming its biggest offshore wind lease sale ever today, 24 February, after completing 21 rounds yesterday and yielding more than USD 1.51 billion for six lease areas in federal waters in the New York Bight offshore New York and New Jersey.

In the first offshore wind auction organised under the Biden-Harris Administration and the biggest to be held in the country so far, BOEM is offering a total of 488,201 acres across six lease areas marked as: OCS-A 0537, OCS-A 0538, OCS-A 0539, OCS-A 0541, OCS-A 0542, and OCS-A 0544.

The biggest of the six areas is OCS-A 0539 in Hudson South with 125,964 acres and has so far been the most expensive site in the auction, ending the first day with a price of USD 410 million and five live bids.

The situation in the final round yesterday was as follows:

OCS-A 0537: bid price USD 265 million, three bids
OCS-A 0538: bid price USD 295 million, one bid
OCS-A 0539: bid price USD 410 million, five bids
OCS-A 0541: bid price USD 285 million, two bids
OCS-A 0542: bid price USD 180 million, two bids
OCS-A 0544: bid price USD 100 million, no bids

The last and the smallest of the lease areas, OCS-A 0544, had three bidders in Round 19 at USD 75 million and could see more bids in the upcoming rounds as BOEM permits bidders to join bidding rounds even if they had not placed bids in the previous one(s).

To see the updates from Day 1, go to the article below: