The deadline for project selection in three New England states' combined 6.8GW offshore wind auction has been delayed by a month to 6 September, Massachusetts’ Department of Energy Resources (DER) announced.
The deadline for the request for Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island's fourth solicitation had been earlier this week (7 August).
Contracts are now due to be executed by 8 November and sent to regulators for approval by 18 December.
“The additional time is needed to consider any impacts to this solicitation from the recently announced federal grant to New England states through the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) grid innovation programme for projects to invest in regional electric infrastructure to ready the onshore transmission system for offshore wind,” the DER said.
Major players including Avangrid Renewables, Ørsted, SouthCoast Wind and Vineyard Offshore had submitted bids.
The DOE announced the $389 million 'power up New England' programme on 6 August. It features significant investments in regional electric infrastructure, including proactive upgrades to points of interconnection in south-east Massachusetts and south-east Connecticut to ready the onshore transmission system for up to 4.8GW of additional offshore wind.
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