States postpone naming winners of tri-state New England offshore wind bidding

New England states were expected to announce winners of regional offshore wind contracts today, but the announcement has been postponed.

Massachusetts officials say they’re putting off the decision for one month to consider the effect of a recent federal grant.

The grant, made to New England states, will fund regional, on-shore transmission infrastructure for offshore wind.

Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut are looking to buy up to 6,800 megawatts of power combined. That’s more than eight times the size of Vineyard Wind.

Susan Muller, an energy analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists, said buying that much wind power will help New England during cold snaps, when the energy grid is strained.

“We have been paying enormous amounts of money to import oil and gas, just to keep the grid secure and to make sure we don't have a blackout in winter,” she said. Wind off New England shores, she said, is “like a clutch player in the winter. It shows up almost exactly in sync with periods where we have very low temperatures.”

She’s calling on the states to “go big” by buying as much wind power as possible.

Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut cooperated to solicit bids from developers.

Massachusetts and Rhode Island publicly scheduled their announcements for today; Connecticut gave no specific date, saying only that it planned to name winners sometime in the third quarter.

Three companies have submitted bids in all three states: Avangrid, Ocean Winds, and Vineyard Offshore. A fourth company, Orsted, bid only in Rhode Island and Connecticut.

In some cases, the limited liability company submitting the application bears a different name from the parent company. SouthCoast Wind Energy LLC applied on behalf of Ocean Winds; Bay State Wind LLC applied on behalf of Orsted.

The winning projects will be built in the designated offshore wind area south of Massachusetts and Rhode Island.