The Baker-Polito Administration has announced the selection of two offshore wind projects, Mayflower Wind and Vineyard Wind, to move forward to contract negotiations to provide a combined total of 1,600MW of energy.
The selected projects, in combination with two previous projects procured since Governor Charlie Baker signed comprehensive energy legislation in 2016, bring the total amount of offshore wind procured by the Administration to approximately 3,200 MW. The selected projects include a 400 MW proposal from Mayflower Wind and a 1,200 MW proposal from Vineyard Wind. The selection of a 1,600 MW portfolio of projects represents substantial progress towards the Commonwealth’s current authorization of 5,600 MW of offshore wind energy. The first procurement resulted in executed and approved contracts with the Vineyard Wind 1 project for 800 MW, the first large-scale offshore wind procurements in the United States. The second procurement resulted in executed and approved contracts with the Mayflower Wind Low-Cost Energy project for 804 MW of offshore wind. The combined energy output of the selected and contracted offshore wind projects represents approximately 25 percent of total Massachusetts annual electricity demand.
