US greenlights Iberdrola's 2.6GW New England offshore wind now bid into regional tenders
Spanish utility's subsidiary Avangrid looks to revive cancelled Commonwealth and Park City projects with 1.8GW proposals
US offshore energy regulator issued its record of decision (ROD) for Avangrid’s mammoth 2.6GW New England Wind project under development off coastal Massachusetts, the second-to-last federal approval that allows it to begin construction.
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced the ROD for the project by Iberdrola’s US subsidiary Avangrid located some 23 miles (37 km) south of Martha’s Vineyard in the Massachusetts wind energy area (WEA). It is the country's largest zone for offshore wind development.
“With the approval of the New England Wind project, we have now approved more than 10GW of offshore wind projects in under three years,” said BOEM director Elizabeth Klein.
“BOEM is proud of our open communication and frequent collaboration with federal partners, Tribal Nations, states, industry and ocean users to shape project reviews and avoid or minimize conflict with existing users and marine life.”
BOEM expects to issue final approval of the project’s construction and operations plan (COP) within months.
Construction will have to wait for the array to gain an offtake contract, though.
New England tri-state rounds
The firm had been developing lease 0534 as two distinct arrays, the 1.2GW Commonwealth Wind for Massachusetts and the 804MW Park City Wind for Connecticut.
Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island individually and jointly solicited a combined 6.8GW of capacity, much of it to replace projects cancelled last year due to inflationary headwinds.
“With this federal approval, New England Wind stands apart as the most advanced and shovel-ready offshore wind opportunity in the Northeast region,” said Pedro Azagra, CEO of Avangrid.
Avangrid’s proposals represent two projects – the 791MW New England Wind 1 and 1.08GW New England Wind 2.
Ken Kimmel, head of offshore wind at Avangrid, said that ROD in hand should position the project well for states scrambling to meet looming energy and climate targets.
“More importantly, having all federal, state, and local permits, the grid interconnection agreement, and community benefits in place creates more certainty,” he added, particularly amid the upcoming election that could return wind-power skeptic Donald Trump to the presidency.
“As viability is a key factor that states use, we think the certainty this project offers will be huge,” Kimmel added.
Industry response
The ROD “represents another significant permitting milestone for the US offshore wind industry and will provide clean and reliable electricity to the equivalent of approximately one million homes when completed,” said Anne Reynolds, vice president for offshore wind for industry lobby group American Clean Power Assocation.
“BOEM is crushing it,” said Liz Burdock, CEO of industry advocacy group Oceantic Network.
Vineyard JV
Avangrid is joint venture (JV) partner along with Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) in US flagship, the 800MW Vineyard Wind 1 under construction in lease 0500 just north of New England Wind.
The JV split in 2021, with Avangrid taking over New England projects while CIP took lease 0522 that it is now developing as Vineyard Northeast through its US subsidiary, Vineyard Offshore.
BOEM recently announced its intention to conduct its environmental review of the project, and Vineyard Offshore has likewise submitted multiple bids for 1.2GW of capacity into the New England rounds.