The US states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island have jointly awarded 1,200 MW of new offshore wind capacity to two projects.
Massachusetts state utilities Unitil, National Grid and Eversource Energy have selected an 800 MW offshore project south of Martha’s Vineyard, developed by the Danish fund management company Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and the US energy services company Avangrid Renewables. Once built (as of 2021), the would account for 6% of the state's total annual power load. In the meantime, Rhode Island announced a contract with the the offshore wind project developer Deepwater Wind for the construction of a 400 MW wind park.
In 2016, Massachusetts passed a law requiring power utilities to procure 1,600 MW of offshore wind electricity over the next decade. The state of New Jersey has just adopted a law committing to procuring 3,500 MW of offshore wind.