This story was originally produced by WBUR. We are republishing it in partnership with the New England News Collaborative.
Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island announced the winners of their joint offshore wind procurement Friday.
The three selected projects are expected to produce 2,878 megawatts of electricity — or about what it takes to power 1.6 million homes. It's considerably less than the 6,800 megawatts the states set out to procure.
Massachusetts customers will get the vast majority of electricity from the projects, 2,678 megawatts, and Rhode Island customers will get 200 megawatts. Connecticut, which was also part of the multi-state process, did not select any projects. In a statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said Connecticut officials are still evaluating projects and will announce "a final decision" at a future date.
Despite the lackluster size of the projects, government officials touted the results as great news, noting that it represents the largest offshore wind procurement to date in New England, and it will help the region sever its dependence on fuels like natural gas, which contribute to climate change.
“We are taking an important step towards energy independence, cleaner air and transforming our economy,” said Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey in a statement. "We'll power 1.4 million more Massachusetts homes with clean, renewable energy, create thousands of good, union jobs, and generate billions of dollars in economic activity.”
The results of this latest procurement follow nearly two years of economic tumult in the wind energy industry that caused several developers up and down the East Coast to cancel contracts after realizing the projects were no longer financially viable.
Some of the projects selected Friday are reincarnations of these previously canceled projects.
In announcing the winners, the states did not disclose the price of electricity in the bids. This information is likely to become public later this winter when the states’ electric utilities formally file proposals with the states’ public utility commissions.
Still, it is widely understood that this round of offshore wind projects will be more expensive than previous projects because of economic factors like inflation, higher interest rates and supply chain constraints.
