Texas is used to having companies bidding for off-shore energy rights in the Gulf of Mexico, but this time it’s the wind, not oil, fueling the process.
This story in the Dallas Morning News says its a new process for almost everyone involved:
This is the first time in the U.S. that leases for offshore wind production are being put in a competitive bid process – the process that doles out virtually all of the oil and natural gas tracts. The bids must be received no later than Oct. 2.
Producing wind energy offshore is largely untested right now. There is one company that holds a wind energy lease in Texas waters – off the coast of Galveston – but it hasn’t started generating power.
The company, Louisiana-based Wind Energy Systems Technologies LLC, is conducting meteorological tests and plans to start putting power into the grid in 2009.
Jim Suydam, press secretary of the General Land Office, said that the office doesn’t have specific revenue goals for offshore wind energy because it is a new process.
“We’re kind of waiting to see what we can get,” he said. “It’s history to even offer it up for competitive lease.”
Companies such as Wind Energy Systems Technologies and a company based in the United Kingdom have already expressed an interest.