The State of Massachusetts has passed over Deepwater Wind’s Revolution Wind offshore wind project in the first of two requests for proposals under the Massachusetts Clean Energy initiative.
The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources, together with distribution companies Eversource Energy, National Grid and Unitil, selected the Northern Pass Transmission hydroelectric project submitted by Eversource and Hydro-Québec as the sole winner of the Section 83D Clean Energy request for proposals.
The final acceptance of the bid and the award of a contract is conditional upon the successful negotiation of the contract and required regulatory approval at the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities.
Overall, the first round of the request for proposals attracted 46 bids, including Deepwater Wind’s bid for the construction of the 144MW Revolution Wind, an offshore wind farm paired with a 40MWh battery storage system provided by Tesla. Deepwater Wind also provided alternative bids for a larger 288MW version of Revolution Wind and a smaller 96MW version.
However, the Revolution Wind is still in contention with two other projects, the Bay State Wind and the Vineyard Wind, under a separate, Section 83C request for proposals, issued specifically for offshore wind projects.
Under the 83C proposal, Revolution Wind could be built at various sizes up to 400MW in its first phase. If approved, local construction work on Revolution Wind would begin in 2022, with the project in operations in 2023. Survey work is already underway at Deepwater Wind’s lease area.
The utilities and state regulators are expected to make a decision on the 83C solicitation in April 2018.