Maryland unexpectedly releases invitation for bids for offshore wind

The 9 December 2025 IFB comes only months after the Trump administration asked a US federal judge to rescind approval for the construction and operations plan for US Wind’s 2.2-GW Maryland offshore wind project, one of a number of moves by President Trump to stymie offshore wind development in the US.

More recently, a Boston District Court judge ruled that US President Donald Trump’s executive order indefinitely pausing permitting for wind energy projects was illegal, after 17 states and the District of Columbia, including Maryland, brought a lawsuit against the decision. 

Against this background, documentation issued by the state indicates that in the IFB, the Department of General Services and Office of State Procurement are seeking offshore wind developers who can enter into a power purchase agreement for "the environmental attributes," that is renewable energy credits, associated with an offshore wind project connected to the Delmarva Peninsula. The contract term is defined as "at least 20 years." 

The IFB, which will progress Maryland’s goal of 8.5 GW of offshore wind by 2031, said the bidder must hold site control of a lease area from the Department of the Interior on the outer continental shelf of the Atlantic Ocean more than 16 km off the coast. The bidder must also have the ability and documentation to connect from the lease area to the PJM Interconnection grid at a point on the Delmarva Peninsula. 

Responding to the IFB, Aegir Insights lead analyst Americas, Signe Sørensen, said it seems to be up to the bidder to decide on a commercial operation date (COD), which would give invaluable flexibility to set a realistic COD. Termination fees look to range from US$15M to US$120M. She noted the bidding deadline is 16 January 2026, which means the few developers for whom the IFB might be relevant – US Wind, Dominion Energy, Equinor and Ørsted – would need to act fast, if they want to take advantage of the opportunity.

Ms Sørensen said US Wind already has contracts with Maryland for the entire 1.7 GW of its planned capacity in the lease area. “Ørsted, which would otherwise have the most relevant projects for the auction in the form of Skipjack 1 and 2, may not be ready to bid in US auctions again,” she said, “although it did announce that Skipjack would be positioned for future offtake auctions, when the projects were cancelled in 2024.” Ms Signe Sørensen said that leaves a "very undeveloped lease" held by Equinor, and Dominion Energy’s new lease that sits adjacent to its successful CVOW-project.

“They all seem like rather unlikely contenders to enter into a contract that would require them to put a cost to future American offshore wind and commit to it,” she concluded. “But if the COD can be set far enough into the future and the price is high enough, who knows?”