Interior Department Secretary Ken Salazar announced the leases, which will allow the construction of meteorological towers to collect wind data for specific sites off the Atlantic coast states of New Jersey and Delaware.

The recipients are Bluewater Wind New Jersey Energy, Fishermen’s Energy of New Jersey, Deepwater Wind, and Bluewater Wind Delaware. The developers will scout sites between six miles and 18 miles (9-30 kilometres) offshore.

The Atlantic coast is viewed as having the best prospects for offshore wind with the potential for 1,000 gigawatts of electricity, the Interior Department estimated in a report earlier this year. Salazar joined New Jersey politicians in Atlantic City for the announcement.

Governor Jon Corzine says the leases are "tremendous news" for his state.

“New Jersey’s Outer Continental Shelf is a resource that holds a great promise for our energy independence and should be considered a haven for the clean, renewable and environmentally friendly energy that wind power provides," he said in a statement. "This is a major step for the State in meeting its goal of 1000 megawatts by 2013 and 3000 megawatts by 2020.”

The Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) has exclusive jurisdiction over wind and solar energy development leases on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), federally controlled territory between three miles and 200 miles (5-322km) offshore.

That jurisdiction was clarified earlier this spring when Salazar settled a long-running dispute with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) over how leases and permits for off-shore renewable energy would be granted. As part of the agreement, FERC has exclusive jurisdiction to issue construction and operation licenses for wave and current energy projects, but those projects also must have a lease from MMS.

The new rules take effect 29 June.

According to an Interior Department statement, data collected from the meteorological towers given the go ahead Tuesday will be shared with the MMS to support future offshore wind projects and help coastal states meet renewable portfolio standards.