Bay State Wind Reveals Massachusetts Offshore Wind Play

Bay State Wind, a 50/50 joint venture between Ørsted and Eversource, has submitted its proposal in response to the second Request for Proposals (RFP) for offshore wind energy generation in Massachusetts.

Bay State Wind included proposals for a 400MW and 800MW project.

Bay State Wind has been in development since 2015, with currently over 50 local full-time employees supporting project development in Massachusetts.

In an effort to gather as much information and research about the project footprint and its surrounding environment, the team has gathered two years of advanced FLiDAR wind speed data specific to the lease area and conducted over 12,000 miles of geotechnical surveys in the lease area and along the export cable route.

”Since day one our team has been focused on delivering cost-effective, renewable offshore wind energy to the Bay State,” said President of Ørsted North America and CEO of Ørsted U.S. Offshore Wind Thomas Brostrøm. “Our project will not only create jobs and provide local investment, it will be delivered by the offshore wind’s leading experts to ensure the project is achievable, sustainable and successful for the commonwealth.”

The project will be located 25 miles off the Massachusetts South Coast and 15 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard.

Massachusetts issued its second offshore wind RFP in May. The winner or winners of the solicitation will be announced by 8 November and the long-term contracts are expected to be negotiated and executed by 13 December.

The long-term contracts will be submitted to the Department of Public Utilities for approval by 10 January 2020.