GOV. MAURA HEALEY and her Democratic counterpart from Connecticut, Ned Lamont, seemed to be on the same page when it came to offshore wind.
Both governors have talked about offshore wind as the primary way to electrify their state economies and decarbonize them at the same time. Both have talked about the promise of jobs from the industry. And both of their states have major offshore wind farms being constructed off their coasts – Vineyard Wind 1 in Massachusetts and Revolution Wind in Connecticut.
Nearly a year ago Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island signed a tri-state offshore wind procurement. It was a little unclear how it would work, but the expectation was that three like-minded states would pool their buying power to solicit the development of large-scale offshore wind farms.
On Friday, Massachusetts and Rhode Island moved forward, but Connecticut sat on its hands. Massachusetts agreed to procure 2,678 megawatts of offshore wind power from three proposed offshore wind farms and Rhode Island agreed to purchase 200 megawatts from one of those projects. Connecticut, however, announced no procurements and said it needed more time to study its options, which was strange given the lengthy procurement process.
Vineyard Wind 2, a wind farm slated to complete construction sometime in 2031, hinted on Monday that it might not be able to proceed if Connecticut doesn’t step up and contract for the remaining 400 megawatts of the 1,200 megawatt project. Massachusetts procured the other 800 megawatts.
Lamont has given no explanation for his silence, but many assume he’s wary of announcing another offshore wind project at a time when electricity prices have spiked in his state.
Pricing has been a major concern for all three states. Worldwide, the price of offshore wind power has gone up dramatically in the wake of the war in Ukraine, supply chain difficulties, and economic uncertainty. Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island twice delayed their tri-state procurement to give the developers more time to assess how federal tax credits and grants might affect their pricing.
No pricing information was released on Friday when Massachusetts and Rhode Island announced their procurements, but Healey showed no reticence about moving forward. “These projects will help create a stronger economy, massive economic development, and, importantly, lower electricity costs for our residents and our businesses,” she promised.
Lamont in Connecticut said nothing. His state faces some unique pricing challenges on electricity at the moment. Even as the cost of electricity fell this summer, utility delivery charges rose dramatically, resulting in an overall $8 monthly increase for most customers.
The delivery charges rose because utilities were paid back for the cost of a four-year moratorium on service shutoffs that started during the pandemic. The cost of a power supply contract with the Millstone nuclear power plant jumped. And rates also rose because a new charge was added to utility bills to pay for electric vehicle charging equipment.
Stephen Harding, the Republican leader in the Connecticut Senate, is worried Lamont may still relent and greenlight an offshore wind power purchase agreement at a summit of New England governors and eastern Canada premiers that’s taking place in Boston. On Monday night Harding urged Lamont to not make a bad situation worse by procuring what he described as high-priced wind power.
“Republicans continue to urge the administration to limit all future power purchase agreements so that no contract can be for more than 150 percent over the wholesale electric market price,” he said in a statement. “Stop the bleeding. Don’t make this unsustainable crisis even worse by making Connecticut residents and families pay a 200 percent to 300 percent premium for wind.”