By Natalia Rueda 
President Joe Biden is pushing America’s clean energy revolution to new heights with a historic event — the first-ever auction in the Gulf of Mexico for the development of offshore wind.
This milestone for the clean energy industry was identified during Biden’s visit to the Gulf in February to highlight his administration’s efforts to diversify energy sources and combat climate change. On August 29, the U.S. will hold a competitive bidding process for lease of areas of the Gulf with the potential to generate an estimated 3.7 gigawatts of offshore wind power, enough for 1.3 million homes.
Companies from Europe and Asia — subsidiaries of Equinor, Shell, RWE and TotalEnergies, as well as Hanwha, Hecate Energy and Quantum Capital — are vying for a piece of the clean energy pie. By investing in Gulf-based projects, these companies have a unique opportunity to capitalize on the region’s lower wind speeds, soft soils, and unique hurricane and energy price risks.
The Gulf’s lower wind speeds, soft soils and hurricanes mean there could be some unique challenges for the industry to face. Additionally, the Southeast has low power prices that could make it difficult for more costly offshore wind to secure electricity contracts.
For oil and gas companies already operating in the Gulf, this could provide a welcome opportunity to diversify their revenue streams, as well as the ability to more actively participate in the construction of new offshore wind projects closer to home.
Biden’s bid to expand offshore wind in the Gulf, as well as the previous leases sold off the coasts of New York, New Jersey and California, is a major step forward in meeting his Clean Energy Revolution goals. After years of lagging behind other countries, the United States is finally ramping up to become an offshore wind superpower — transforming not only the U.S. energy mix, but the global economy as well.