PPL Corporation (PPL), through its subsidiary PPL TransLink, and Elia Group, through its subsidiary WindGrid, have announced an agreement to develop and propose transmission solutions to integrate future offshore wind capacity to the onshore grid in the New England region.
The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding to work together to develop, build and operate transmission assets. This will combine PPL's experience in building and operating large-scale onshore transmission in the USA with Elia Group's track record in building, integrating and operating offshore transmission, including high-voltage direct current (HVDC) networks.
Later this month, PPL and WindGrid plan to jointly respond to a request for information (RFI) issued by five New England states (Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine and New Hampshire) that are seeking input from interested stakeholders relating to the transmission system changes and upgrades that are needed to integrate future renewable energy resources into their grids. Recent studies assume that up to 30,000 megawatts of New England offshore wind capacity will be deployed by 2050.
