​​Maryland, Massachusetts power new US offshore wind contracts

Maryland and Massachusetts officials have selected four new offshore wind proposals to bring an additional 3.2GW of potential generation for both states. The new additions bring huge volumes to the US development pipeline and testing pilot approaches to expanding clean power production in the country.

On Friday, the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) approved more than 1,650 MW of offshore wind capacity as it decided to award offshore renewable energy credits (ORECs) to US Wind’s 808.5 MW Momentum Wind and Ørsted’s 846 MW Skipjack Wind 2 projects. The 20-year OREC to Ørsted’s largest bid in the solicitation will generate enough green electricity to power 250,000 homes in the Delmarva region.

On the same day, Massachusetts gave the green light to the 1,232 MW Commonwealth Wind development, owned by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Avangrid Renewables (Iberdrola’s US renewables company), and the 400 MW Mayflower Wind project, owned by Shell and Ocean Winds – a joint venture between Engie and EDP Renewables.

The US set its 2030 clean energy target to 30GW at the beginning of this year.

The two new projects in Maryland are expected to be operational before the end of 2026, subject to review by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). The projects are in addition to the 368 MW of offshore wind already being developed by both companies off Maryland‘s shore and whose ORECs were approved by the PSC in 2017.

Ørsted, which will build Skipjack Wind 2, was previously awarded Skipjack Wind 1 (120 MW) as one project with expected commissioning in 2026.  “The win in Maryland manifests our market leading position in the US with a total of approximately 5 GW of awarded offshore wind projects, which unlocks significant portfolio benefits in procurement, construction and operations," said Martin Neubert, Deputy CEO and Chief Commercial Officer at Ørsted.  

"By adding this value-creating project to our portfolio, Ørsted has been awarded a total of 4.5 GW of offshore wind capacity in 2021, thereby growing our firm offshore wind capacity world-wide to almost 20 GW,” he added.

For Massachusetts, this was the third Request for Proposals (RFP) for offshore wind energy projects and the largest to date in terms of awarded capacity. The first two rounds saw offshore wind capacity awarded to the same developers: the 800 MW Vineyard Wind 1 project and the 804 MW Mayflower Wind projects.