The next phase of offshore wind development in New England will become clearer Wednesday as proposals roll in ahead of the noon deadline in Massachusetts' latest attempt to secure more of the cleaner energy source.
Massachusetts is seeking as much as 3,600 megawatts of offshore wind capacity in its fourth procurement round, its biggest procurement ever. And through a tri-state partnership with Rhode Island and Connecticut, Massachusetts and its neighbors are together looking for a combined 6,000 MW of additional offshore wind energy capacity.
Vineyard Offshore, one of the companies behind the Vineyard Wind 1 project that represents the only offshore wind currently in the Massachusetts pipeline, announced Wednesday morning that it submitted a proposal for a 1,200 MW Vineyard Wind 2 project, which it said could start delivering power in 2031. The company said it offered the project to Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut individually, and to the three states together under the joint solicitation process.
The Vineyard Wind 2 project would be developed in a lease area about 29 miles south of Nantucket, to the south and east of the Vineyard Wind 1 project. It would use Salem as its offshore construction staging site, get steel components for foundations from a Providence-based company, connect into the New England grid in Montville, Conn., and run its operations and maintenance out of New Bedford, the company said. It's designed to produce enough power for more than 650,000 homes.
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If selected, Vineyard Offshore said its project would displace 2.1 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year across New England, roughly the same as taking 414,000 cars off the road. Officials said Vineyard Wind 2 would generate about $2.3 billion in direct expenditures and 3,800 job-years of employment across New England, with more than $1.5 billion in spending and 80 percent of the employment coming in Massachusetts.
The number and scope of bids Wednesday will provide a snapshot of where things stand with the offshore wind industry and the state's quest to transition away from fossil fuels. But one key question -- how much more expensive than the last projects selected (and then canceled) will the next projects cost? -- is not likely to be answered until a project or projects are selected for contract negotiations.
Vineyard Offshore did not include a price for the power its Vineyard Wind 2 project would generate. The company said "electricity market impacts and other benefits totaling as much as $4.8 billion over 20 years from adding 1,200 MW of offshore wind to the New England grid include $600 million from reduced wholesale electricity market rates and avoidance of winter price spikes."
Multistate proposals "must offer the same price" to all participating states or their electric companies, according to the memorandum of understanding signed by the states.
"The multi-state offshore wind bids unsealed today are a major milestone in the Northeast’s transition from fossil fuels to clean renewable energy. We must build offshore wind if we are going to have an economy powered by clean electricity for our cars, our homes, our businesses and our industries. Without offshore wind, there is no clean electric future," Kate Sinding Daly, senior vice president of law and policy at the Conservation Law Foundation, said. "If we are going to abate climate change, improve our health, clean our air and water – major offshore wind projects like those envisioned here for Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut have to become reality."
