US Energy Department $390m grid award prompts New England states to delay offshore wind selection
Grant marks success of regional coalition's request for transmission upgrades and forms anchor for future expansion amid multistate at-sea wind procurement
Massachusetts and Rhode Island have extended their project selection deadline for their ongoing offshore wind procurement by 30 days to consider impacts of the US Department of Energy (DoE)’s $390 grant for onshore transmission in New England.
The two New England states with Connecticut are part of the pioneering multistate offshore wind procurement for up to 6.8GW.
Energy secretary Jennifer Granholm told reporters yesterday that the grant will enable New England to absorb 4.7GW of offshore wind capacity.
Massachusetts is aiming to procure up to 3.6GW of new capacity in this round after 2.4GW of projects were cancelled last year amid inflationary headwinds and high interest rates.
“Additional time is needed to consider any impacts to this solicitation from the recently announced federal grant,” said the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) under the Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.
The previous deadline for bid selection had been 7 August but has been extended to 6 September.
Rhode Island, which is looking for up to 1.2GW of capacity, has likewise extended conditional bid selection to the same date. Connecticut is seeking 2GW in the tristate procurement but has yet to publicly declare its intention to delay bid selection.
“New projects will require more transmission capacity, and this short extension will allow both bidders and states to take this new development into their planning process,” said Sam Salustro, vice president of strategic communications at Oceantic Network.
DoE's awards “are intended by the New England states to form an anchor for any offshore wind transmission requests for proposals (RfPs),” said Theodore Paradise, energy partner at international law firm K&L Gates.
Regional procurement
The tristate offshore wind procurement agreement is not binding, and each state reserved the right to procure project independently.
Orsted, meanwhile, declined to bid into Massachusetts.
Massachusetts DOER said: “The Evaluation Team continues to diligently perform its obligations to conduct a fair and competitive evaluation of the Section 83C proposals, including coordinating” with the simultaneous ongoing solicitations in Connecticut and Rhode Island.
Contract negotiation will begin following bid selection in September through 8 November for the three states followed by submission of final contracts to utility regulators for approval.
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