Danish-based offshore wind farm developer Orsted and Massachusetts-based Eversource on April 2 said that their joint venture, Bay State Wind, has submitted a bid to build Connecticut’s first offshore wind farm in response to the state’s request for proposals for offshore wind energy generation.
The approximately 200-megawatt project, called Constitution Wind, would be the first of its kind to serve the state of Connecticut, the companies said.
The project will be located 65 miles off the coast of New London in federal waters, “a significant distance from coastal and residential communities,” the companies said in a news release. The project will provide 825,000 megawatt-hours of offshore wind energy per year, they noted.
Bay State Wind recently entered into a letter of intent to work with Massachusetts-based NEC Energy Solutions for the battery storage component of a New England offshore wind project.
Deepwater Wind also responded to RFP
Meanwhile, offshore wind developer Deepwater Wind on April 3 said it has proposed to supply 200 MW from its Revolution Wind project to Connecticut in response to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s RFP for offshore wind energy.
The Revolution Wind project is located in federal waters roughly halfway between Montauk, N.Y., and Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.
Deepwater Wind has a pending proposal in Massachusetts to supply energy from Revolution Wind to that state as well. Revolution Wind Connecticut could be developed as a standalone or expansion project, depending on the results of each state’s procurement, Deepwater Wind said.
Deepwater Wind’s adjacent 90-MW South Fork Wind Farm project will supply Long Island, N.Y. The Board of Trustees of the Long Island Power Authority in January 2017 approved a contract submitted by Deepwater Wind for the South Fork Wind Farm.
Deepwater Wind said that Revolution Wind would be paired with a first-of-its-kind offshore transmission backbone developed in partnership with National Grid Ventures. “This system would support not just Revolution Wind, but also future offshore wind farms in the region, even if they’re built by our competitors. This cooperation will reduce infrastructure costs and save electric ratepayers money,” Deepwater Wind said.
Deepwater Wind is also proposing an optional energy storage component, “which would make Revolution Wind capable of delivering clean energy to Connecticut utilities when it’s needed most, during peak hours of demand on the regional electric grid,” the company said.
If approved, construction work on Revolution Wind would begin in 2022, with the project in operations in 2023. Survey work is already underway at Deepwater Wind’s lease area.
Offshore wind poised to take off in the U.S., Moody’s says
The U.S. offshore wind market is poised to take off in the wake of sharply declining costs and growing policy support, Moody’s Investors Service said in a recent report.
Among other things, the rating agency said that the U.S. Northeast, in particular New England, New York and New Jersey, has the most offshore wind economic potential.
