“The single most important difference between the two projects comes down to maturation of technology,” said Scott Farmelant, a spokesman for Vineyard Wind.
Offshore wind technology has evolved rapidly. Cape Wind planned to use turbines capable of generating 3.6 megawatts of electricity, about one-third the capacity of the 8-10 megawatt turbines that will be used for Vineyard Wind.
The wholesale price of energy and energy credits under the Vineyard Wind contracts, levelized over the 20-year term, is 6.5 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2017 dollars. For comparison, market price is 7.9 cents, according to an Aug. 1 letter to DPU Secretary Mark Marini from the Department of Energy Resources.
The Department of Energy Resources asked the Department of Public Utilities to approve the contracts, saying Vineyard Wind will provide cost-effective energy and is in the public interest.
State officials expect the DPU to determine a schedule soon for a public hearing.
The 800-megawatt project will be built in two phases of up to 50 turbines each, starting about 14 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard. The schedule calls for turbines to start running by Jan. 15, 2022 for the first phase, and a year later for the second.
Lars Thaaning Pedersen, CEO of Vineyard Wind, welcomed the filing of the contracts as “historic.”
“This long-term investment and commitment to Massachusetts will stimulate job growth, economic development and acceleration of an emerging offshore wind industry in the United States,” he said in a written statement.
The other bidders for the Massachusetts contracts were Bay State Wind and Deepwater Wind.
Priscilla Ress, a spokeswoman for Eversource, said that of the three bids, Vineyard Wind best met the state-defined selection criteria, which gave 75 percent of the weight to price.
National Grid said in a statement that the pricing is fair and competitive.
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