Wind power contract deadlines extended again

Extension Comes As Offshore Wind Opponent Trump Preps To Take Office

Beacon Hill Democrats and state energy officials continue to tout their commitment to developing a sprawling offshore wind power sector, but the movement continues to suffer delays and setbacks.

Utilities on Wednesday notified state regulators that power project contract negotiations did not lead to executed contracts by a Jan. 15 deadline, and the execution of the contracts is now expected by March 31. 

The change means the target for filing contracts with the state has been pushed forward again, to May 9 instead of Feb. 25. Project pricing information is expected to be made public when the contracts are filed.

The contract execution date was originally Aug. 14, 2024.

The Healey administration in September picked some or all of three offshore wind projects in the state's latest procurement. But Vineyard Offshore pulled the 800 megawatts Massachusetts selected from its Vineyard Wind 2 project back from negotiations, saying the deal was conditioned on Connecticut buying the remaining capacity.

Massachusetts also selected 1,087 MW of the 1,287 MW SouthCoast Wind project, with the remaining 200 MW going to Rhode Island, and the entire 791 MW New England Wind 1 project.

"The Evaluation Team will continue to inform the Department of the progress towards the submittal of the contracts for Department approval," National Grid Senior Counsel Laura Bickel wrote in a letter to the Department of Public Utilities on Wednesday. 

On Monday, NJ Spotlight News reported that New Jersey Congressman Jeff Van Drew drafted an executive order at the request of President-elect Donald Trump, a vocal critic of wind power, that would halt offshore wind activities for six months as the federal government reviewed the industry.

"They liked it a lot, at an initial glance," Van Drew said, according to NJ Spotlight. "I expect an executive order in the first couple of months."

Trump, who takes office Monday, is a proponent of fossil-fuel based energy, an approach that's at odds with Massachusetts laws and efforts that count on offshore wind power to meet decarbonization requirements.

According to the town of Nantucket, where wind power opposition became energized last summer after a blade shattered and littered the island shores with debris, the federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement has postponed a Feb. 3 public information webinar on the Vineyard Wind turbine failure.

The town reported that the bureau's public affairs office said the bureau was postponing its participation "due to the number of questions received and our desire to ensure we are able to provide meaningful responses."

The U.S. Department of the Interior in December approved the SouthCoast Wind project, the 11th offshore wind project approved by the Biden administration. Bid documents refer to it as a "fully bankable project ready to start construction in 2025" and deliver power in 2030. The project is owned by OW Ocean Winds.

Avangrid is the developer pressing ahead with both the New England Wind 1 and Vineyard Wind 1 projects.

While sector stakeholders wait to see what course Trump charts, Gov. Maura Healey told wind energy backers and labor groups in November she remains confident. 

"Mark my words: We will show them. Because we're moving ahead. We'll show them," Healey said at an event in Taunton on Nov. 19, referring to skeptics generally. "We'll get this done, and people will be behind it."