The US state of Maryland has invited bids for offshore wind power in a new procurement process only days after a federal judge overruled the Trump administration’s moratorium on wind development.
The invitation for bids was conducted through the state’s Department of General Services Office of State Procurement. The invitation is inviting developers willing to enter into a power purchase agreement with the state for a minimum term of 20 years.
Bidders must hold site control over a lease area on the outer continental shelf in the Atlantic Ocean that has been granted by the US Department of the Interior.
The lease must be around 16 km from the state’s coast. Bidders will also have to connect the project to the grid via the Delmarva Peninsula.
No specific capacity target has been set for this procurement, but it will add to Maryland’s target to reach 8.5GW of offshore wind capacity by 2031.
A pre-bid conference will be held on December 17, while the deadline for submitting bids is set for January 16, 2026.
This is a clear act of defiance by one of the US states to Trump’s stance on offshore wind. Trump signed an executive order that paused new offshore wind activity in the US on his first day in office.
The moratorium on offshore wind had no end in sight. However, this moratorium was found to be unlawful in the District Court for Massachusetts. A US District Court judge stated that Trump’s executive order to cancel all wind projects on federal land and water was “arbitrary and capricious… and violated federal law”.
