Mayflower Wind Joins Massachusetts Offshore Wind Race

Mayflower Wind, a joint venture between Shell New Energies and EDPR Offshore North America, is participating in the latest round of Request for Proposals (RFP) for long-term contracts for offshore wind energy projects in Massachusetts.

The information was confirmed to Offshore WIND by a spokesperson for EDP Renewables North America. No further details on the joint venture’s proposal or proposals have been disclosed.

Mayflower Wind was one of the three successful bidders in the record-breaking offshore wind lease area auction in Massachusetts which brought in USD 405,100,000 to the United States Treasury.

The joint venture secured a 30-year concession on one of three offshore wind areas for USD 135 million.

The lease area OCS-A 0521 could accommodate a total generation capacity of approximately 1.6GW, Mayflower Wind said. A wind farm at the site could be up and running by mid-2020s, the developer said.

As reported earlier, Bay State Wind, a 50/50 joint venture between Ørsted and Eversource, has also submitted proposals in response to the state’s second RFP.

Vineyard Wind, a joint venture between Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and Avangrid Renewables and the winner of the state’s first RFP, is also participating in this round.

Massachusetts issued its second offshore wind RFP in May. Bidders are allowed to offer proposals from 200MW up to approximately 800MW.

The winner or winners of the solicitation will be announced by 8 November and the long-term contracts are expected to be negotiated and executed by 13 December.

The long-term contracts will be submitted to the Department of Public Utilities for approval by 10 January 2020.