The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) yesterday convened a lease auction covering more than 110,000 acres in the Carolina Long Bay area. The sale totaled more than $300 million. The leases could enable development of an estimated 1.3 gigawatts of offshore wind energy.

In response to the conclusion of the lease sale, the BlueGreen Alliance released the following statement from Executive Director Jason Walsh:

“The Long Bay lease sale is the latest step forward in growing our nation’s offshore wind capacity. The potential for clean energy generation and high-quality job creation in the offshore wind industry is substantial and if we do this right—making necessary investments down the supply chain—the benefits of the expansion of this industry will ripple across the country to manufacturing communities ready and willing to produce the parts and materials that make these projects a reality.”