Offshore Wind

The three wind farms proposed for the coast off New York were all tied to a plan by GE Vernova to start producing giant 18-megawatt turbines at a facility on the Hudson River to be subsidized by the state.

Mitchell likes the fact that the three offshore wind developers vying for business in Massachusetts have either stated publicly or told him privately that they want to use the port of New Bedford as an operations and maintenance base. The mayor says operations and maintenance work is attractive because it involves a good number of jobs for the entire life of the project, typically 20 to 25 years.

Five companies own offshore leases off the southern New England coast. Avangrid, Ocean Winds, Orsted, and Vineyard Offshore submitted bids totaling 5,455 megawatts on Wednesday, while the fifth company, bp, decided to remain on the sidelines.

The new guidance expands eligibility for a bonus that would increase the investment tax credit for eligible offshore wind projects from 30 percent to 40 percent.

A press release issued by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul indicated the average cost of the two contracts in New York is $150.15 per megawatt hour. The press release said the price “is on-par with the latest market prices,” but it’s a sticker-shock leap from the $76.73-per-megawatt-hour price that Massachusetts negotiated with Avangrid in March 2023.

The delay pushes back the deadline for submission of bids from January 31 until March 27. More importantly, the two-month delay means final approval of the next offshore wind deals may not come until the end of 2024 or early 2025.

The company, which for months has been trying to reach a sales agreement for its offshore wind assets, said it is writing down the value of those assets by $1.4 billion to $1.6 billion. The adjustment is significant, as some financial analysts had as recently as August 1 estimated the value of the company’s offshore wind assets at $2 billion.