Bay State Wind, a partnership between Ørsted (DONG Energy) and Eversource established to develop the Bay State Wind wind farm offshore Massachusetts, has opened an office in New Bedford.
“New Bedford is going to be the epicenter for offshore wind in Massachusetts,” Thomas Brostrom , General Manager at Bay State Wind, said. “It has been teed up for a long time.”
Brostrom also announced that the company will contribute USD 25,000 to the New Bedford Wind Energy Center, which is leading the city’s efforts to promote the growth of the offshore wind industry and associated economic development within the Port of New Bedford.
Earlier in July, the Bay State Wind offshore wind farm received BOEM’s first approval of an offshore wind Site Assessment Plan (SAP).
Ørsted is in charge of the development and construction of the wind farm’s offshore generation and transmission assets and New England-based Eversource will develop and construct the onshore transmission system.
The wind farm, located approximately 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard with water depths of between 130 – 165 feet, is expected to have an installed capacity of more than 1,000MW.
Bay State Wind could deliver first power in the early 2020s.
Massachusetts is the first US state to set out offshore wind capacity targets in its new energy legislation. In August 2016, the state governor Charlie Baker signed into law the new energy legislation which calls for development of 1,600MW of offshore wind capacity by 2027.