PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island and Massachusetts have agreed to a coordinated procurement of 2,878 megawatts of offshore wind power from three yet-to-be-operating wind farms off the coast of southern New England, according to Gov. Daniel J. McKee.
Through the coordinated procurement, the first of its kind, offshore wind will eventually power more than 125,000 homes in Rhode Island and 1.4 million in Massachusetts.
Massachusetts selected 2,678 megawatts in total from three projects: 1,087 MW from SouthCoast Wind, 800 MW from Vineyard Wind 2 and 791 MW from New England Wind 1
Meanwhile, Rhode Island selected 200 MW from SouthCoast Wind. (When the multistate offshore wind procurement pact was announced last October, state officials said the utility company Rhode Island Energy would be seeking proposals of approximately 1,200 megawatts of new offshore wind capacity.)
Officials say New England Wind 1 will begin construction as early as next year and is expected to be operational in 2029. Construction on SouthCoast Wind is also expected to start in 2025 with completion coming in 2030. And Vineyard Wind 2 is expected to send power into the grid until 2031.
"Today marks a historic milestone for Rhode Island and Massachusetts as we join forces to drive the largest offshore wind procurement in New England's history," McKee said. “With this project, Rhode Island is taking a significant step forward in meeting our Act on Climate goals and building a clean energy economy that benefits all Rhode Islanders.”
SouthCoast Wind is a proposed 2,400-megawatt wind farm 30 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard and 20 miles south of Nantucket. The project, owned by Ocean Winds, will occupy the full 199-square-mile lease area, which was awarded through a competitive auction by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
SouthCoast Wind Energy LLC along with Avangrid Renewables LLC, Orsted A/S and Vineyard Offshore responded to Rhode Island Energy's request for proposals to secure an additional 1,200 megawatts of offshore wind for the state.
The request for proposals, made last October, followed Rhode Island’s decision to join New England’s first multistate offshore wind memorandum of understanding with Massachusetts and Connecticut.
"Rhode Island is happy to work together with Massachusetts to continue our offshore wind investments and advance our state’s commitment to a 100% renewable energy standard by 2033," said R.I. Office of Energy Resources Acting Commissioner Chris Kearns. "The selected project by Rhode Island Energy would grow the state’s offshore wind resources, over the long-term reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, provide support to the state’s transition to electrification measures and provide good economic development and job opportunities."
In August, the U.S. Department of Energy selected the New England states’ Power Up New England proposal for $389 million in federal funding to support investments in offshore wind transmission and multi-day battery storage infrastructure.
In addition, federal regulators accepted an ISO New England proposal to implement a new, state-driven procurement process for regionally beneficial transmission. This approval positions the New England states to request that ISO New England issue a competitive solicitation for proposals to address longer-term transmission needs, such as transmission to interconnect offshore wind or other clean energy resources, in late 2024 or early 2025.
UPDATE: Corrects Ocean Winds sole owner of SouthCoast Wind project.)
