Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island have delayed their much-anticipated coordinated offshore wind solicitation by 30 days to account for the effects of the U.S. Department of Energy’s recent award of Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships funding to help interconnect offshore wind projects.
The states were set to announce the results of the procurement Aug. 7. The day before, DOE announced its award of $389.3 million for substations in Southern New England to help interconnect up to 4,800 MW of offshore wind, as well as to spur the development of multiday energy storage in Maine. (See DOE Announces $2.2B in Grid Resilience, Innovation Awards.)
The coordinated solicitation is intended to lower overall costs by using regional supply chains and the three states’ collective buying power. It drew 5,454 MW of bids from four developers, staying within the solicitation’s 6,000-MW cap. (See New England States’ OSW Procurement Receives 5,454 MW in Bids.)
This marks the second time the solicitation has been delayed; the states previously pushed the project selection date from June to August to buy time for clarity on federal tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act. (See New England States Delay Offshore Wind Solicitations.)
Under the new schedule, project selection is scheduled for Sept. 6, while the long-term contracts are set to be executed in November and submitted for approval in December.
