Equinor, Dominion win US Central Atlantic offshore wind auction

(Reuters) -Norway's Equinor and U.S. power company Dominion were the winning bidders in a U.S. government offshore wind auction of two areas off the coasts of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, the U.S. Interior Department said on Wednesday.

The offshore wind lease sale generated less than $93 million in winning bids, making it among the least lucrative of those held by the Biden administration.

U.S. President Joe Biden has put the development of offshore wind at the forefront of his climate change agenda, but the industry has stumbled in the last year due to soaring costs and supply chain disruptions.

Equinor bid $75 million for a 101,443-acre lease 26 miles (42 km) from Delaware Bay. Dominion's Virginia Electric and Power Co won a 176,505-acre lease 35 miles from Chesapeake Bay for $17.65 million. Six companies participated in the auction, the Interior Department said.

Both Equinor and Dominion are already developing offshore wind projects in U.S. waters.

"Offshore wind is critical to our all-of-the-above approach to meet the unprecedented growth of our customer electric demand over the next decade," Dominion CEO Robert Blue said in a statement. "Winning this lease area gives us another low-cost option to meet that growing demand while providing our customers with reliable, affordable and increasing clean energy."

Equinor said its newest U.S. lease would not produce power until after 2035.

"We will take a disciplined approach to minimize risk and mature a robust project in our portfolio," Pal Eitrheim, executive vice president of Equinor Renewables, said in a statement.

Last month, the Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management canceled a planned sale of offshore wind leases in the Gulf of Mexico due to a lack of industry interest. An auction held there last year resulted in the sale of just one of three offered leases for $5.6 million.

The Interior Department plans to hold offshore wind auctions later this year for areas off the coast of Oregon and in the Gulf of Maine.

(Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by Jan Harvey and Paul Simao)