Another proposed offshore wind development received federal approval on Tuesday, setting the stage for the construction of up to 129 new turbines in the federal waters south of Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management granted approval to Avangrid for a pair of proposed wind farms identified as New England Wind 1 and 2. Collectively, the wind farms would generate between 2,000 and 2,600 megawatts of electricity, enough to power more than 900,000 homes with clean energy.
Avangrid said it may pursue only New England Wind 1 — essentially a smaller version of the project — if it fails to win power purchase agreements from the three states in southern New England that the developer pitched the project to through a tri-state solicitation process.
Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut have to decide whether the proposed cost of electricity is affordable for their residents. The pricepoint is currently confidential as Avangrid’s proposal goes through a public bid process, alongside bids from fellow developers Vineyard Offshore, SouthCoast Wind and Orsted. It’s possible that all four projects could be selected.
Whether any successful bids emerge will be viewed as a test of whether offshore wind development is really back on track in New England.
Developers canceled several power purchase agreements last year because of rising construction costs and interest rates. For the New England Wind proposal, Avangrid reused plans from a pair of projects they canceled, known formerly as Commonwealth Wind and Park City Wind.
The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced its decision to approve New England Wind on Tuesday after a yearslong environmental review process.
With the possibility of a second Trump administration looming, having federal approval already in hand could give Avangrid a leg up in the procurement process as state officials weigh the viability of the bids they received. The Trump administration delayed and in some cases tried to reverse federal permitting decisions that advanced offshore wind development.
BOEM’s environmental review identified a long list of impacts the proposed wind farm could have on its surroundings. Those included potentially displacing a variety of marine species and the fishermen who target them.
BOEM also reported that the turbine’s nacelles — the generators around which the blades spin — will be visible from Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket on clear days.
But BOEM found that failing to construct the wind farm would leave the region reliant on fossil fuel energy sources, which harm air quality and emit greenhouse gasses that hasten the speed of climate change.
Offshore wind, BOEM said, “is presently an irreplaceable component in state, federal, and international strategies to reduce and reverse global climate change over the coming decades.”
New England Wind would be located near three other offshore wind farms the federal government has already approved: South Fork Wind, Revolution Wind, and Vineyard Wind 1.
