Massachusetts doubles offshore wind in power pipeline

The amount of offshore wind power in the pipeline is poised to roughly double with the selection of projects from both Vineyard Wind and Mayflower Wind to cumulatively generate 1,600 megawatts of cleaner power for the Bay State by the end of this decade.

A group of utility executives working with assistance from the Baker administration was seeking 1,600 MW more of offshore wind power but got just two bids that each maxed out at 1,200 MW and came only from the two developers already under contract to deliver offshore wind power to Massachusetts.

So instead of picking just one 1,200 MW project, the group selected Vineyard Wind’s roughly 1,200 MW Commonwealth Wind proposal and supplemented it with a 400 MW project offered by Mayflower Wind.

Both developers are already working on roughly 800 MW projects for Massachusetts. Vineyard Wind I, the first utility-scale offshore wind farm in the nation, is in the very early stages of construction and is due to come online by the end of 2023. Mayflower Wind’s initial 804 MW project just began its federal review process and is expected to be up and running in 2025.

“These projects will double the size of our current offshore wind procurements, they will deliver significant economic benefits to a number of coastal communities across the commonwealth,” said Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Kathleen Theoharides.

Once the two projects already under development and the two selected Friday are operational, offshore wind will generate roughly 25 percent of Massachusetts’ annual electricity demand, enough to power about 1.6 million homes, the administration said.

Contracts with Vineyard Wind and Mayflower Wind are expected to be negotiated by March 28, 2022, and final contracts are supposed to be submitted for Department of Public Utilities approval by April 27, 2022. Theoharides said she was not at liberty to disclose pricing information while the contracts are under negotiation but said both projects came in cheaper than the last Mayflower Wind project did, in accordance with the state’s offshore wind price cap.

The contracting process might be “a bit more complicated than in the past” because projects from two developers were chosen to go into negotiations at the same time, but otherwise the selection of two projects does not create any significant differences from previous procurements, the secretary said.

To meet its midcentury climate goals, Massachusetts will have to get on pace of bringing about 1 gigawatt (or 1,000 MW) of offshore wind power online each year in the 2030s, the Baker administration has said. The four projects either selected or under contract total about 3,200 MW and the state can procure another 2,400 MW before the Legislature must authorize more.

Mayflower Wind said its 400 MW proposal is accompanied by an economic development package that includes “commitments to spend up to $42.3 million, including $27 million over 10 years to the SouthCoast Community Foundation.”