Offshore wind developer Mayflower Wind has announced the award of a 400 MW Power Purchase Agreement by the state of Massachusetts and its three biggest utilities.
Combined with an earlier 804 MW award, the company is not set to provide more than 1200 MW of clean energy electricity to customers throughout Massachusetts and represents a first phase of its federal lease area.
Mayflower Wind is a 50/50 joint venture between Shell New Energies, part of Royal Dutch Shell, and Ocean Winds. The company is seeking to install wind turbines in federal waters 20 miles south of Nantucket in the Atlantic Ocean and connect them at Brayton Point, home of a formal coal fired power plant. Once fully operational, the project will produce enough electricity to power 800,000 homes annually, create 14,000 jobs, result in economic development, and eliminate up to 4 million metric tons of greenhouse gases each year..
“This decision is the result of the extraordinary collaboration between our team and the many communities and stakeholders we have worked with over the past several months. It also reaffirms the quality and competitiveness of our bid as well as the expertise our team and sponsors bring to the offshore wind industry.” said Michael Brown, CEO of Mayflower Wind.
The win is accompanied by an economic development package that will support the building of the offshore wind supply chain in the region; provide for education and training of an offshore wind workforce; make significant investments in local ports, businesses, and infrastructure; as well as offer diversity, equity, and inclusion measures that include the hiring of specialized firms and support for low-income electric consumers, among other measures.
“Today we celebrate an important milestone in making offshore wind a reality, providing clean reliable energy to the people of Massachusetts and bringing tangible economic development benefit to the SouthCoast. Ocean Winds is proud to contribute to the critical effort of building a clean, sustainable, and prosperous future for the United States, starting with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.” said Grzegorz Gorski, COO, Ocean Winds.
