BOSTON — Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut received proposals for offshore wind projects on Wednesday, as the three East Coast states hope to increase their dependence on the renewable energy source.
The three states have joined a historic agreement that allows for a potentially coordinated selection of offshore wind projects.
Massachusetts received bids from Avangrid Renewables, South Coast Wind Energy and Vineyard Offshore in response to the region’s largest demand to date for offshore wind energy, seeking up to 3,600 megawatts.
Governor Maura Healey’s administration “will review bids in the coming months and work with Connecticut and Rhode Island to evaluate projects in multiple states that would increase benefits to the region, reduce costs and improve project viability,” Elizabeth Mahony, Massachusetts Energy Resources Commissioner. said in a press release.
Rhode Island announced Wednesday that it will evaluate proposals from Avangrid Renewables, Orsted, SouthCoast Wind Energy and Vineyard Offshore. It had requested proposals for approximately 1,200 megawatts of power.
Chris Kearns, acting Rhode Island energy commissioner, said the state looks forward to “reviewing the proposals with Rhode Island Energy and the Massachusetts and Connecticut state energy offices in the coming months.”
The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection also announced Wednesday that it has received proposals from four developers under the multi-state request.
Connecticut is seeking 2,000 megawatts of new offshore wind energy, which would add to the 304 megawatts of offshore wind energy it will receive from the Revolution Wind project, which was jointly selected by Connecticut and Rhode Island and is now under development.
“We look forward to evaluating the submissions we received under this RFP in the coming months and coordinating the review of any multi-state proposals we receive with Massachusetts and Rhode Island,” said DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes.
The agency expects to announce whether any projects have been selected in the third quarter of 2024.
Vineyard Offshore has submitted a proposal for a 1,200 megawatt offshore wind energy project to the three states in response to their request for up to 6,800 megawatts of offshore wind energy capacity.
“Vineyard Offshore knows how to deliver offshore wind energy to New England, and that’s by earning the trust of the communities we serve,” said Alicia Barton, CEO of Vineyard Offshore.
Ørsted announced it has submitted a proposal for a 1,184-megawatt Starboard Wind project that would power more than 600,000 homes in Rhode Island.
Avangrid, Inc. has submitted multiple proposals to the Massachusetts-Connecticut-Rhode Island Solicitation for Offshore Wind Energy, including New England Wind, which represents two projects: the 791-megawatt New England Wind 1 project and the 1,080-megawatt New England Wind 2 project.