October 5, 2023 — The U.S. continues to push forward with the permitting process for the development of offshore wind energy resources while evidence continues to mount regarding the changing economics of the sector. Developers for several of the earlier proposed projects that are now in the later stages of permitting have highlighted the mounting financial challenges for their projects saying it would jeopardize their development.
Avangrid, a Connecticut-based company owned by Spain’s Iberdrola Group on Monday confirmed that it has reached its second agreement with regulators to terminate its previously approved Power Purchase Agreements for wind farms it is planning for Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. The company contends this is the fastest path toward developing the wind farms.
The new development comes for the Pack City Wind project, a planned 804 MW wind farm that would be located about 30 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard on the Outer Continental Shelf and in the first phase supplying power to Connecticut in the Bridgeport area. The company was awarded the contract for the project in 2019 and in 2020 two regulated electric utilities, Eversource Energy and United Illuminating, entered into the 20-year agreements for the power from the project which was targeted to come online in 2025. The project is projected to supply 14 percent of Connecticut’s electric power needs.