September 10, 2023 — Gov. Maura Healey last week announced a new effort to procure up to 3,600 megawatts of offshore wind power – the largest call out to developers in the state’s history.
Together with three electric companies, the state is seeking projects to produce what amounts to about 25 per cent of Massachusetts’ annual electricity demand. The new request for proposals will likely be welcomed by offshore wind energy developers that have stalled under pre-pandemic agreements to supply power to the state’s main utility companies.
Two companies with plans to place wind turbines off Martha’s Vineyard have agreed to pay tens of millions of dollars to get out of old contracts that they said made the projects economically unviable.
The procurement push from the state is for projects that already have a lease in the outer continental shelf area more than 10 miles south of the Island and signals a willingness to offer developers flexibility as the state strives for more renewable energy.
“With our top academic institutions, robust workforce training programs, innovative companies and support from every level of government – Massachusetts is all-in on offshore wind,” Ms. Healey said in a statement on August 30.
The day before the state’s announcement, SouthCoast Wind agreed to pay $60 million to get out of its contract with three utilities that it had promised to supply power to from the proposed farm 30 miles off the Island. Commonwealth Wind, another developer planning to build to the south of Martha’s Vineyard, agreed to pay $48 million earlier this year.
“Closing these contracts was never the plan but impacts of Covid-related supply chain disruptions and the war in Ukraine made them unfinanceable,” SouthCoast Wind spokesperson Martha Keeley said in a statement to the Gazette.