Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island received bids for new wind farms on Wednesday from offshore wind developers seeking to get construction back on track after a string of projects were canceled last year because of rising construction costs.
The bids seek to lock in higher electricity prices for offshore wind that manage to strike a balance between affordability for electricity consumers and viability for developers.
Four developers — Avangrid, Vineyard Offshore, Orsted and SouthCoast Wind — submitted bids through the tri-state solicitation process. Collectively, the new wind farms proposed by the developers could generate up to 5,500 megawatts of electricity. All of them are located in a contiguous stretch of federal waters south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket and east of Block Island and Montauk.
The three New England states plan to announce on Aug. 7 which projects they will award power purchase agreements to. Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut agreed to solicit and review the bids as a consortium in an effort to encourage larger wind farms that could utilize economies of scale to offer lower electricity prices. It’s possible that bids from all four developers could win power purchase agreements. The states previously announced they were considering authorizing power purchase agreements of up to 6,000 megawatts.
Whether the current bids will be accepted is a test of whether offshore wind remains economically viable in New England. After last year’s string of project cancellations, Rhode Island led a solicitation process on its own that failed to yield a viable power purchase agreement for a new wind farm.
All three states, as well as the federal government, still consider offshore wind a core component of their decarbonization strategies as they seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and limit the impacts of climate change.
The bids
Avangrid bid with a package of proposals that, if accepted in its entirety, would be the largest of the proposed offshore wind farms. Avangrid seeks to construct two wind farms adjacent to one another — the 791 megawatt New England Wind 1 and the 1,080 megawatt New England Wind 2 — that together would supply enough electricity to power nearly 1 million homes.
The project would be constructed out of New Bedford’s Foss Marine Terminal and a new offshore wind terminal under development in Salem, which the company promised to support with $30 million in upfront investments and $100 million in lease payments. Operations and maintenance work would be sited in Bridgeport, Conn. and New Bedford.
New England Wind 1 is a reconfigured version of a canceled development previously known as Park City Wind. In a press release announcing the bid, Avangrid described New England Wind 1 as “shovel ready,” with federal approval of its construction plan expected in July.
Avangrid said New England Wind 2, a reconfiguration of a project previously known as Commonwealth Wind, is only being offered as a combined project with New England Wind 1 “to capture important economics of scale and support significant grid upgrades.”
If accepted, the 1,870 megawatts of electricity generated by the joint project would be split between Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. New England Wind 1 and 2 would be Avangrid’s second offshore wind development in the U.S.
Construction is already nearing completion on Avangrid’s first project, Vineyard Wind 1, an 800 megawatt wind farm serving Massachusetts that was co-developed with Vineyard Offshore, a subsidiary of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. In the latest tri-state solicitation, Avangrid and Vineyard Offshore are now competitors.
Vineyard Offshore bid a 1,200 megawatt wind farm called Vineyard Wind 2 that would supply enough electricity to power 650,000 homes.
The developer would stage construction for the project at the Salem Offshore Wind Terminal. It committed to sourcing secondary steel components for its turbines, like internal and external platforms and boat landings, from Providence-based company Riggs Distler & Co.
Vineyard Offshore plans to site its operations and maintenance facility at the New Bedford Foss Marine Terminal. In a press release, the developer said the facility would provide “dozens of long-term jobs” and “strengthen the city of New Bedford, which is currently hosting construction of Vineyard Wind 1, as a regional hub for the offshore wind industry.”
Orsted bid a 1,184 megawatt wind farm called Starboard Wind that would power more than 600,000 homes in Connecticut and Rhode Island. The developer did not submit a proposal to supply power to Massachusetts.
Construction for the project would be marshaled out of an offshore wind terminal at the New London State Pier. Orsted said it would site its operation and maintenance hub for Starboard Wind at Quonset Point in North Kingstown.
If the bid is accepted, Orsted said in a press release that the project would advance Connecticut toward its goal of meeting 100% of its electricity needs with clean energy by 2040.
Utility company Rhode Island Energy said that between Starboard Wind, the Block Island wind farm and Revolution Wind, an Orsted project already under construction, offshore wind farms could supply more than 80% of Rhode Island’s electricity needs by 2030.
SouthCoast Wind bid a 1,200 megawatt project it identified in a press release as Project 1, promising the same amount of power as a canceled project that had won a power purchase agreement in Massachusetts. The company signed a lease to base construction activity at the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal and previously committed to building an operations and maintenance hub in Fall River.