Policy

Massachusetts puts brakes on future offshore wind development amid turmoil

Pioneering state delays next procurement round as it still works out contract negotiations for last tender

Vineyard Wind components in port.
Vineyard Wind components in port.Photo: Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE)
US Offshore Wind Editor, Recharge

US offshore wind pioneer Massachusetts has put the brakes on future procurements amid Trump turmoil and ongoing contract negotiations for its last round, state agencies revealed.

The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER), which oversees offshore wind procurement, informed the Department of Public Utilities in a letter last week that it was holding off its fifth procurement round “until 2026 at the earliest” at the request of prospective bidders and other stakeholders.

State law requires that Massachusetts' next tender happen within 24 months of its last, which closed 6 September 2024.

Three projects were awarded, with one, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partner (CIP)’s 800MW array, quickly withdrawing after Connecticut declined to procure a further 400MW.

The remaining two, Iberdrola-owned Avangrid’s 791MW New England and Ocean Winds’ SouthCoast Wind arrays, remain stuck in protracted power purchase contract negotiations with local utilities.

Reasons for the delay include “federal policy uncertainty such as the Presidential Memorandum halting federal permitting of wind projects, ensuing litigation challenging that Memorandum, availability of the investment tax credit, and tariff uncertainty, as well as ongoing Round IV contract negotiations,” DOER noted in its letter.

President Donald Trump’s Inauguration Day memorandum that derailed all but the nation's five projects currently in construction is being challenged in federal court by a consortium of 17 states led by Massachusetts and New York that may be settled early next month.
Access to tax credits vital for the costly energy source, meanwhile, were dramatically restricted by passage of the ‘one big beautiful bill’ (BBB) that cuts them off to new projects entirely by 2028.
Avangrid’s and Ocean Winds’ arrays currently in contract negotiations should have access to investment tax credits if they begin construction before 4 July next year. Iberdrola has indicated that it remains on the fence over whether to go forward with its project, however.

DOER also cited Massachusetts state law requiring procurement drafting parties “to make improvements to the subsequent solicitation based on lessons learned from the prior solicitation.”

Round 4 “contract negotiations need to conclude for such improvements to be fully understood and completely incorporated into” the Round 5 procurement process, DOER said.

Massachusetts was an industry pacesetter and hosts the nation’s first fully approved commercial-scale array, CIP-Avangrid’s 800MW Vineyard Wind.

This project has faced multiple hurdles in its installation phase mostly stemming from a collapsed blade.
Clean up and replacement of another score of faulty blades delayed the project, which is now expected to be completed by year’s end, although Vineyard has committed to a lease at staging port New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal into 2026.

The state also procured 800MW from Ocean Winds and 1.2GW from Avangrid in earlier rounds, but these projects fell apart in 2023 long before Trump returned to power due to poor economics caused by surging inflation and financing costs.

The state mandates 5.6GW under contract by 2027 and its decarbonisation goals put it on track for potentially 20GW by mid-century.

(Copyright)

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Published 12 August 2025, 16:41Updated 12 August 2025, 16:41
AmericasUSMassachusettsIberdrolaAvangrid