Big turnout expected in New England offshore wind power auction (updated)

Avangrid

27/03/2024 15:01

(Updates with confirmation of bids, details of Vineyard
Offshore project)
    By Scott DiSavino and Laila Kearney
       March 27 (Reuters) - Several offshore wind developers
say they are bidding in the combined
Connecticut-Massachusetts-Rhode Island offshore wind
solicitation on Wednesday, including units of European energy
firms Iberdrola  IBE.MC , Engie  ENGIE.PA  and Orsted
 ORSTED.CO .
    The U.S. offshore wind industry is booming so far in 2024,
with several projects in various stages of development and
construction, after a disastrous 2023 that saw developers cancel
contracts and take roughly $9.1 billion in write-offs and
impairments.
    So far, Avangrid  AGR.N  and Copenhagen Infrastructure
Partners' Vineyard Offshore confirmed to Reuters that they
planned to bid in the tri-state auction, which is expected to
play a critical role in U.S. and state plans to decarbonize the
power grid and combat climate change.
        Vineyard Offshore said it proposed a 1,200-megawatt (MW)
offshore windfarm, enough to power about 650,000 homes, that
would sit 29 miles (46.7 kilometers) south of Nantucket in
Massachusetts. The project, dubbed Vineyard Wind 2, was proposed
to start in 2031.
  
        Vineyard Offshore is held by funds managed by Copenhagen
Infrastructure Partners.
  
    After contracts to sell offshore wind power to utilities in
Massachusetts and Connecticut were scrapped due to rising costs
from higher interest rates and supply chain problems,
Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island agreed in October
2023 to jointly pursue offshore wind to help get more projects
built.
    Some companies that canceled contracts to sell power in the
U.S. Northeast in 2023 have indicated they have projects ready
to be bid in upcoming solicitations. Those include units of
Avangrid, BP  BP.L , EDP Energias de Portugal  EDP.LS  and
Engie.
    Other firms with projects available to bid in the tri-state
solicitation that did not cancel power sales contracts - at
least not in New England - include units of Orsted, the world's
biggest offshore wind company.
    Although Orsted has not canceled projects in New England, it
has abandoned contracts to sell power from offshore wind in New
York, New Jersey and Maryland over the past year.
    Avangrid, Orsted and Engie said they would wait to release
details of any proposals until after the deadline for bids on
Wednesday. BP did not return a request for comment.
    
    SOME PROJECTS THAT COULD BE BID
    Avangrid, a unit of Spanish energy company Iberdrola, is
developing the 804-MW Park City and 1,232-MW Commonwealth Wind
projects off Massachusetts, both of which had contracts with New
England utilities that were canceled in 2023.
    Avangrid is also building the roughly $4 billion, 806-MW
Vineyard Wind 1 project off Massachusetts in a joint venture
with Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. The companies expect to
complete Vineyard Wind 1 later this year. It produced first
power in January 2024.
    Engie and EDP's EDP Renovaveis  EDPR.LS  are in a joint
venture called Ocean Winds that is developing the 2,400-MW
SouthCoast Wind project off Massachusetts.
    Orsted is developing the 2,000-MW Bay State Wind and 900-MW
Sunrise Wind residual projects off Massachusetts and Rhode
Island.
    Orsted also operates two of the four offshore wind projects
operating in the U.S. - the 29-MW Block Island off Rhode Island
and 132-MW South Fork off New York - and is building the 704-MW
Revolution project off Rhode Island.

 (Reporting by Scott DiSavino and Laila Kearney in New York;
Editing by Stephen Coates and Andrea Ricci)
 ((scott.disavino@thomsonreuters.com; +1 332 219 1922; Reuters
Messaging: scott.disavino.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))