In our effort to keep members apprised of the most recent developments concerning SouthCoast Wind’s offshore wind development project, please find below a link to Southcoast Wind’s August 7 update and a link to an August 7 article that ran in The Cape Cod Times which very well summarizes the most recent project status.
Please bear in mind that SouthCoast Wind’s plans for Falmouth remain on “temporary suspension” with the MA Energy Facility Siting Board (EFSB) and are pending approval by the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Independent Service Operator / New England (ISO/NE), amongst others. The recent bidding does not yet apply to the Falmouth portion of their project.
1. Click here to read SouthCoast Wind’s August 7, 2024 newsletter “Project Updates & More” which includes:
• Project Updates
• Program Highlight
• Meet our Quality, Health, and Safety Manager
• Recent Events
2. The text of the Cape Cod Times article, “New offshore wind projects delayed by state, including areas off Martha’s Vineyard” by Heather McCarron, 8/7/24 is printed below. To access the online version which includes many links and some photos, click here.
New offshore wind projects delayed by state, including areas off Martha’s Vineyard
It’s going to be at least another month before contenders for the state’s fourth, and largest, offshore wind procurement will be unveiled.
The state Department of Energy Resources (DOER) on Tuesday indicated in a letter submitted to Department of Public Utilities Secretary Mark Marini that selection of projects will be postponed until Sept. 6. The agency’s evaluation team was originally scheduled to announce the selected bids and the start of negotiations on Aug. 7.
“The additional time is needed to consider any impacts to this solicitation from the recently announced federal grant to New England states through the U.S. Department of Energy’s Grid Innovation Program for projects to invest in regional electric infrastructure to ready the onshore transmission system for offshore wind,” the letter reads.
According to the request for proposals associated with the offshore wind procurement, the evaluation team reserved the right to revise the selection and subsequent decision-making schedule “as necessary.”
All eligible bidders were informed about the change in scheduling by way of a posting to MACleanEnergy.com on Tuesday.
The delay will also push out completion of long-term contracts and memoranda of understanding to the DOER from Oct. 9 to Nov. 8, and the deadline to submit long-term contracts for DPU approval from Nov. 13 to Dec. 18.
Offshore wind training: Offshore wind workers to learn how to survive helicopter crashes on Cape Cod. Here’s why.
The DOER evaluation team additionally “continues to coordinate the current Section 83C solicitation with the simultaneous solicitations ongoing in Connecticut and Rhode Island” as part of the Memorandum of Understanding the three states agreed upon on Oct. 3, 2023, the letter to Marini reads.
That agreement between the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources, the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Resources lays the groundwork for coordinated selection of up to 6,000 megawatts combined offshore wind projects in the states’ pursuit of clean energy generating goals.
The current Massachusetts solicitation is for up to 3,600 megawatts of offshore wind generation capacity, with offshore wind developers invited to submit bids for projects ranging from 200 to 2,400 megawatts.
In March, when bids for the current fourth procurement were due, Massachusetts received proposals from Avangrid Renewables, South Coast Wind Energy, and Vineyard Offshore.
Public versions of the bids, with confidential business information redacted, are posted online at macleanenergy.com.
The procurement is associated with the wind lease areas identified south of Martha’s Vineyard by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, including leases eyed for Avangrid’s New England Wind 1 (formerly Park City Wind) and New England Wind 2 (formerly Commonwealth Wind). Both of those projects were pulled from the last solicitation because of difficult market conditions and in hope of brokering new contracts under better terms.