The substantial economic development commitments that two offshore wind companies included in their newly selected bids reflect “tremendous enthusiasm” for building out the industry across the eastern seaboard, Gov. Charlie Baker said Wednesday.
The Baker administration last week selected a 1,200-megawatt proposal from Vineyard Wind and a 400-megawatt proposal from Mayflower Wind, roughly doubling the amount of offshore wind power in the planning and development pipeline for Massachusetts.
Both bids carry major economic boosts for Bay State communities. Mayflower Wind said its package commits to spend up to $42.3 million, including $27 million over a decade to the SouthCoast Community Foundation, and Vineyard Wind said its project would create 11,000 jobs over its lifetime and launch the state’s first offshore wind manufacturing facility for subsea transmission cables in Somerset.
Vineyard Wind also has plans with Crowley Maritime Corporation and the city of Salem to establish Salem as “the state’s second major offshore wind port.”
Asked about the commitments in the winning bids, Baker said he believes the packages reflect “a belief at this point that the federal administration is rowing in the same direction as the rest of us with respect to getting a lot of this work done” and interest in the industry among most East Coast states.
“One of the reasons we went the way we did the first time, which was without a price guarantee and an ability to walk away if we didn’t get a good bid, was because we wanted people to put what I would describe as their very best offer on the table,” Baker said. “I think all of us believe that if we got a price point that was deemed to be affordable and competitive, other people would come behind that. That’s exactly what’s happening now.”
“You’re watching an industry that’s not just interested in the next bid that they have before Massachusetts or New Hampshire or Maine or New York or New Jersey or Maryland or wherever it might be or Connecticut or Rhode Island,” Baker added. “What you now have is an industry that is starting to think about the buildout of a gigawatt system of deep-water wind up and down the east coast. I think it’s a really positive sign not just for that bid, but for the next one and the one that’s going to come after that as well.”
(Copyright (c) 2021 State House News Service.
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