New England Wind Offshore Wind Project Reaches New Milestone

December 20, 2022, by Adnan Memija

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has published a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed New England Wind offshore project in Massachusetts.

The notice of availability will be published in the Federal Register on 23 December, which will open a 60-day public comment period that ends on 21 February 2023.

The input received via this process will inform the preparation of the final EIS.

During the comment period, BOEM will hold three virtual public meetings where the public can learn more about the review process, the EIS schedule, potential impacts from the proposed project, and proposals to reduce potential impacts.

Park City, LLC submitted a construction and operation plan (COP) in July 2020 for its proposal to develop the 2,600 MW offshore wind project and its associated export cables on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) offshore Massachusetts.

BOEM will use the findings of the EIS to inform its decision on whether to approve the New England Wind COP.

Park City proposes to develop the lease area in two phases, known as Park City Wind (Phase 1) and Commonwealth Wind (Phase 2), collectively referred to as New England Wind.

Avangrid Renewables took over the lease rights for the two offshore wind projects in 2021, as the company and its partner Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) restructured their 50/50 joint venture in the United States, which owned several offshore wind projects with a combined capacity of 5.3 GW.

Today, the developer of the Commonwealth Wind offshore wind project filed a motion to dismiss the ongoing review and approval proceedings for its power purchase agreements (PPAs) at the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) and plans to take the project to the upcoming offshore wind solicitation in the state.

Located about 20 nautical miles south of Martha’s Vineyard and about 24 nautical miles southwest of Nantucket, the proposed New England Wind project will include up to 129 wind turbines.

If approved, this proposed 2.6 GW project could provide power for more than 900,000 homes.