By Nichola Groom
(Reuters) -The Biden administration’s sale of offshore wind development rights off the coast of California drew $757.1 million in high bids, mainly from European developers seeking a foothold in the domestic industry’s expansion to the Pacific Ocean.
Winners of the five leases were primarily divisions of European energy companies that are already developing projects in the U.S. offshore wind market.
The winners included Norway’s Equinor ASA, Denmark’s Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, Germany’s RWE AG, Ocean Winds, which is a joint venture between France’s Engie and Portugal’s EDP Renewables, and U.S. developer Invenergy LLC.
The auction, which began on Tuesday and stretched into Wednesday, is part of the administration’s plan to put wind turbines along every U.S. coastline to tackle climate change and create jobs.
(Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by Alexander Smith, Aurora Ellis and Nick Zieminski)
