Winners selected in US offshore wind RFP to install 1.2 GW
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Authorities in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, states in the north-east of the USA, have selected winning developers following a Request for Proposals (RFP) for offshore wind projects, allowing the development of offshore wind farms with a cumulative capacity of 1.2 GW to proceed.
The Massachusetts Electric Distribution Companies (EDCs) selected Vineyard Wind's proposed 800 MW wind farm and electricity transmission project as the preferred proposed project in the Massachusetts Green Communities Act Section 83C RFP for offshore wind energy projects. Vineyard Wind is a joint venture of Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP).
The company proposes to construct an 800 MW wind farm 24km south of Martha’s Vineyard, off the south coast of Massachusetts, beginning construction in 2019 and commencing operations by 2021. When completed, the Vineyard Wind project will reduce Massachusetts’ carbon emissions by over 1.6 million tons per year, the equivalent of removing 325,000 cars from state roads.
The selection allows all parties to begin negotiations to secure all necessary transmission services and power purchase agreements to facilitate the delivery of offshore wind electricity to Massachusetts customers. Once satisfactory contract terms are secured, those documents will be submitted to the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities for formal review.
In receiving this award, Vineyard Wind has beaten competitive proposals from leading developers. Bay State Wind – a 50-50 joint venture between Ørsted and Eversource - submitted a proposal for a 1,000 MW wind farm to be installed off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, with a 55 MW energy storage component. Ørsted has stated that the company intends to continue progressing the project through upcoming tenders in the New England region of north-east USA and New York.
Deepwater Wind submitted a proposal for a 144 MW offshore wind farm and 40 MWh battery storage system to be supplied by Tesla. The company has not yet commented on the outcome of the RFP. This may be due to this failure being eclipsed by its success in a neighbouring state - Rhode Island has selected Deepwater Wind's 400 MW Revolution Wind project to proceed with development.
Without making its intentions known publicly, the Rhode Island state government participated in the Massachusetts RFP, acting on a clause in the procurement rules that allowed other states in the region to join in if they wanted to.
The Revolution Wind project proposal entails the installation of up to 50 wind turbines that could range from 8 to 12 MW in a 412km2 area of waters that the company is leasing from the federal government. Operations are scheduled to commence in 2023.
Deepwater Wind will now enter negotiations with National Grid, Rhode Island’s electric distribution company, which will submit a proposed contract to the Public Utilities Commission for regulatory review. The project will also be subject to a federal approval process before it proceeds.
