Massachusetts (US) selects Mayflower's 804 MW offshore wind project

The State of Massachusetts (United States) has selected Mayflower Wind, a 50/50 joint venture of Shell and EDPR, to supply 804 MW of offshore wind to Massachusetts. The company submitted the lowest-cost bid under a Request for Proposal (RFP) launched in May 2019 and revised in August 2019 for projects between 200 MW and 800 MW. Mayflower Wind plans to develop its offshore wind project south of Nantucket by the end of 2025. The project will supply electricity below the original price cap of US$84.23/MWh (winning bid price not specified).

Two other consortia took part in the Massachusetts offshore wind tender, namely Vineyard Wind (consortium of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Avangrid (Iberdrola)) that submitted three proposals including a required 400 MW option and two options for development of an 800 MW project, and Bay State Wind (Ørsted and Eversource) that proposed an 800 MW wind project. 

In May 2018, Massachusetts state utilities Unitil, National Grid and Eversource Energy selected an 800 MW offshore project proposed by Vineyard Wind in the first offshore wind round of the state. The first 400 MW should be operational by the end of 2021 and the remainder by 2022. The new project developed by Mayflower Wind brings the amount of offshore wind procured by Massachusetts utilities to approximately 1,600 MW. In June 2019, the State's Department of Energy Resources (DOER) issued its Offshore Wind Study, where it recommends the Massachusetts Electric Distribution Companies to conduct solicitations and procurements for an additional 1,600 MW of offshore wind capacity to be placed in 2022 (800 MW) and 2024 (800 MW); a third solicitation could be held in 2026 if not all the capacity has been awarded.