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 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.

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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.

Opposition to development of that ocean area has grown in recent months, escalating with the July 13 collapse of a football field-sized turbine blade in the Vineyard Wind lease area, where 62 turbines are planned.

The blade's failure resulted in pieces of fiberglass, rigid foam and balsa wood of varying sizes falling into the ocean, with debris washing ashore on Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, and Muskeget, Tuckernuck and Cuttyhunk islands. Debris was also recovered from waters about 3.5 miles off Monomoy in Chatham , and on Tuesday the town of Falmouth reported that debris suspected to be from the blade arrived in the water and on several beaches on Buzzards Bay.

Heather McCarron writes about climate change, environment, energy, science and the natural world . Reach her at hmccarron@capecodonline.com .

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: New offshore wind projects delayed by state, including areas off Martha's Vineyard