By Jennette Barnes
Posted Aug 23, 2019 at 3:07 PM
Vineyard Wind is bidding for another wind farm.
The company submitted a bid Friday for Massachusetts’ second solicitation for commercial offshore wind. Bay State Wind announced a bid earlier in the day.
Both companies made the announcements on their own initiative; the state plans to keep the names of bidders confidential until at least Aug. 30.
Vineyard Wind said it has proposed the required 400-megawatt option, plus two options for an 800-megawatt project.
“Vineyard Wind is very excited to submit these proposals, which offer significant job creation and port infrastructure investment opportunity for the region, while ensuring an attractive, fixed price for electric ratepayers,” Vineyard Wind CEO Lars Pedersen said in a news release. “We look forward to announcing additional details on this exciting project in the weeks ahead.”
The proposed wind farm, dubbed Vineyard Wind 2, would be built in Vineyard Wind’s lease area, south of the Vineyard Wind 1 project. The design for Vineyard Wind 2 shows turbines in rows aligned east to west, with spacing of one nautical mile between turbines, according to the release.
In 2018, Vineyard Wind won Massachusetts’ first contract for commercial offshore wind. Construction was scheduled to start this year, but the schedule is now uncertain because the project has been delayed in the federal permitting process. The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has said it wants to conduct a broad review of the potential effects of offshore wind on the East Coast, a decision applauded by the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, a fishing industry group.
Confidential bids are due Friday, Aug. 23 for Massachusetts’ second solicitation. By Aug. 30, companies must submit public versions of those bids.
Original story here.