A surprise pitch from a midwest company with no experience building offshore wind farms has reignited enthusiasm for wind energy development in the Gulf of Mexico, Verite reports.
Chicago-based Hecate Energy, best known for land-based solar projects, presented its plan to build a 133-turbine wind farm in the Gulf shortly after the Biden administration canceled the region’s second lease auction in July due to insufficient interest from bidders. The failed auction follows the Gulf’s disappointing first auction in 2023, which drew just a single bid, submitted by German wind energy giant RWE, for a tract south of Lake Charles.
Suddenly, the Gulf is back in play, says Cameron Poole, energy and innovation manager for the economic development organization Greater New Orleans, Inc. While the Gulf has stronger storms and fewer potential energy customers than the East Coast, which has garnered most offshore wind development in the U.S., “these new proposals show that developers aren’t scared away by that,” Poole says. “It shows that interest is still growing in the Gulf.”
BOEM is waiting to see if more companies propose projects for the two areas, which total about 142,000 acres.
“The interest from industry leaders such as Hecate and RWE demonstrates the commercial potential in the region,” says James Kendall, BOEM’s Gulf region director.
