Price set at $58/MWh for Massachusetts offshore wind farm

Shell and EDP Renewables’ 804MW Mayflower Wind project will generate electricity for $58.47/MWh (in 2019 prices) over its 20-year lifetime

by Craig Richard 10 November 2020

Mayflower Wind will be built in the purple lease area (pic credit: BOEM)

Massachusetts’ utility regulator has approved 20-year contracts between the state’s electric distribution companies and the developers of the 1287MW SouthCoast Wind 1 (formerly Mayflower Wind) project.

The state's Department of Public Utilities (DPU) signed off on contracts for the wind farm to receive a levelised price of $77.76/MWh (in nominal dollars) over the life of the contract — equivalent to $58.47/MWh in 2019 dollars as Massachusetts’ Department of Energy Resources had noted when it recommended the regulator’s approval in February.

This means that the levelised price of Shell and EDF Renewables’ Mayflower Wind project is below that of the $64.97/MWh (2017 dollars, or $67.76 in 2019 dollars, according to the CPI inflation calculator), secured by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Avangrid's 800MW Vineyard Wind project. 

With all other bill impacts remaining equal, the Mayflower Wind project is expected to provide approximately 0.1-1.8% savings on customer’s monthly energy bills, the DPU stated.

The regulator added that Mayflower Wind will create total net benefits to Massachusetts ratepayers of around $2.4 billion over the 20-year life of the contract.

Mayflower Wind was chosen as the preferred bidder in Massachusetts’ second offshore wind procurement round in October 2019.