These companies want to build more wind farms off RI's coast. Here's what to know.
PROVIDENCE – Four developers have submitted bids to supply more offshore wind power to southern New England in response to a regional solicitation for proposals.
Ørsted, Vineyard Offshore, Avangrid and SouthCoast Wind announced Wednesday, the deadline for proposals, that they had bid into the solicitations put forward by Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts that are together seeking nearly 6,000 megawatts of new offshore wind capacity.
The three states signed an agreement last fall to coordinate their procurement processes in an effort to attract more responses and an attempt to keep energy prices down through economies of scale.
No information on prices yet
While some of the developers released more details about their proposals than others, none gave any indication in their public statements of the prices they included in their submissions to state regulatory agencies and the utilities that are considering buying their power.
Pricing information is generally made public only if utilities agree to contracts with developers, a step in the processes that is still a long way off. For example, the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission isn’t set to get any contracts for review until Nov. 13.
And whether any of the proposals will get that far is still uncertain. Last year, after the McKee administration required Rhode Island Energy to solicit proposals for additional offshore wind capacity, the company rejected the sole bid, an 884-megawatt proposal put forward by Danish renewable energy giant Ørsted and its partner Eversource.
Rhode Island Energy, the state’s largest electric provider, turned down the proposal because of concerns about affordability. Supply chain expenses, inflation and high interest rates drove up the overall cost of that proposal, just as they had done with other offshore wind projects across the Northeast.
Market conditions were so bad that SouthCoast Wind and Avangrid paid substantial penalties to cancel contracts with utilities in Massachusetts that were reached after previous procurements, and Ørsted dropped its plans for projects off New Jersey.
Despite uncertainty, offshore wind is moving forward
Still, development is moving forward in the ocean waters off Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Just two weeks ago, the South Fork Wind Farm, the 12-turbine project developed by Ørsted and Eversource, went into full operation, sending power to Long Island.
Meanwhile, the two companies are ramping up work on Revolution Wind, the 704-megawatt wind farm that would supply power to Rhode Island and Connecticut.
And Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners are already sending some power from the 800-megawatt project called Vineyard Wind that they’re building south of Martha’s Vineyard.
More: Scientists: No link between whale deaths and offshore wind construction. Here's why.
What new offshore wind projects could be built?
Under the new solicitations, Vineyard Offshore, the company funded by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners independent of Avangrid, would build a second 1,200-megawatt wind farm called Vineyard Wind 2 about 29 miles south of Nantucket. The company said it has submitted separate bids to the three states. It says the project would result in $600 million in savings over 20 years from lower wholesale electric prices and the avoidance of winter price spikes.
Ørsted submitted bids to Rhode Island and Connecticut to sell power from its 1,184-megawatt Starboard Wind proposal that would be built near the Revolution project. The company says that for every $1 invested in the project, residents would see nearly double the benefits through jobs and development, energy reliability and environmental impacts.
Avangrid said it had submitted multiple bids to all three states and the region for two proposals, the 791-megawatt New England 1 project (formerly known as Park City Wind) and the 1,080-megawatt New England 2 project (formerly known as Commonwealth Wind).
SouthCoast Wind, which is proposing up to 2,400 megawatts of development, said it submitted a proposal for 1,200 megawatts in response to the regional solicitation.
Rhode Island Energy to evaluate bids
In regard to its request for proposals for up to 1,200 megawatts of new capacity, Rhode Island Energy confirmed that it received bids from the four developers.
Company president Greg Cornett said the new procurement, combined with the existing 30-megawatt Block Island Wind Farm and Revolution Wind, would enable Rhode Island to meet more than 80% of its electric demand with renewable energy.
“Our company is committed to helping Rhode Island meet its nation-leading clean energy goals and will carefully review these proposals,” Cornett said in a statement. “Our objective is to advance the clean energy transition while keeping energy affordable and reliable for our customers.”
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Offshore wind developers competing to build more wind farms off New England's coast
