VINEYARD OFFSHORE hinted on Monday that its proposed 1,200-megawatt offshore wind farm may not move forward unless Connecticut steps up to contract for the 400 megawatts not procured by Massachusetts.
Gov. Maura Healey on Friday said Massachusetts would procure 800 megawatts of the proposed project, but no one stepped forward to claim the remainder. Vineyard Offshore made no comment on Friday, and on Monday Vineyard Offshore CEO Alicia Barton suggested the project might not move forward without another buyer.
“We look forward to Connecticut’s forthcoming decision on the remainder of the procurement so that we can begin to deliver important economic and climate benefits to the region,” she said in a statement.
Connecticut officials indicated they hadn’t made up their minds on Friday, despite having months to review the bids. There has been speculation that Connecticut officials got cold feet after a recent surge in electricity rates in Connecticut.
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont was in Massachusetts on Monday, meeting with fellow New England governors and eastern Canada premiers on energy issues. Healey on Friday said she hoped Connecticut would join the offshore wind procurement along with Massachusetts and Rhode Island. “I don’t know if they’ll do anything today or not, but my hope is they buy in at some point,” she said.
Healey on Friday said Massachusetts intended to procure 2,678 megawatts of offshore wind power – 1,087 from a project called SouthCoast, 791 from New England Wind 1, and 800 from Vineyard Offshore’s Vineyard Wind 2. Rhode Island joined Massachusetts on the South Coast Wind project, procuring 200 megawatts.
Vineyard Wind 2 is not very far along in the permitting process and is not expected to be up and running until 2031. The planned staging site for the wind farm is the Salem Offshore Wind Terminal, which just recently held a ceremonial ground breaking. Operations and maintenance for the wind farm are expected to be run out of New Bedford.