FOUR DEVELOPERS submitted bids to build wind farms off the coast of southern New England, releasing statements promising completion dates as early as 2029 along with modest onshore economic benefits in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Pricing information was not released by the developers or the state.

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 bid process is being run by Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Some of the bids were submitted to individual states and some to all three, and it will be up to the states how they divvy the projects and megawatts up. The three states combined are seeking as much as 6,000 megawatts of wind power, while Massachusetts, which saw the winners of its last three procurements terminate their projects, is looking for as much as 3,600 megawatts.

With no detailed pricing information available, the developers competed in press handouts with claims about how fast they could build their projects and the economic benefits they could offer. One developer, OW Ocean Winds, offered little information on its project. Heavily redacted bids were posted from three of the developers on the state’s website late Wednesday.

Avangrid, which won previous procurements run by Massachusetts and Connecticut for its wind farm projects and then had to terminate them when the economy shifted, is now well positioned as it essentially rebids those earlier projects with new names.

The company said it has all state, regional, and local permits in hand for its newly named New England Wind 1 project (791 megawatts) and expects to get its final federal permits over the next few months.  The project is connecting to Massachusetts at Craigville Beach on Cape Cod and has an agreement in place to connect to the New England power grid. Avangrid said it could begin construction as early as 2025 and begin generating power in 2029, a year before 2030 climate targets kick in in Massachusetts.

“What we’re saying is that New England Wind 1 is something you can count on,” said Ken Kimmell, the chief development officer for offshore wind at Avangrid. “No one else is close to that.”

OW Ocean Winds, which like Avangrid had to terminate two projects that had earlier been greenlighted, made many of the same claims. It is now replicating the canceled projects with its 1,200-megawatt wind farm called SouthCoast. The company said on Wednesday that its project would begin construction in 2025 and be generating power in 2030.

In its bid filing, OW Ocean Winds said it was very difficult to cancel its earlier projects and apologized for the inconvenience that caused. “Losing the financial viability of our awarded projects was incredibly difficult – not only because we knew how important they were to Massachusetts and New England but also because those awards were the pride of our team,” the company said. “We are grateful to Massachusetts and the Healey administration for providing us with a quick turnaround path to recompete. The clear lesson is that a quick turn from award to construction is critical to de-risk a macroeconomic environment that no one can control.”

Vineyard Offshore said its Vineyard Wind 2 project (1,200 megawatts) would be completed in 2031, while Orsted said its Starboard Wind project (1,184 megawatts) would be operational in the early 2030s. No timetable was given for Avangrid’s New England Wind 2 project (1,080 megawatts).

Economic benefits accompanying offshore wind projects are difficult to evaluate. Many would like to see New England become part of the supply chain for the multi-billion-dollar offshore wind industry emerging along the Atlantic Coast, but supporting onshore investments can drive up the price of power, which policymakers would like to keep low as the region decarbonizes using clean electricity.

None of the projects make major investments in production facilities, but most invest in local communities and the bids showed more interest in buying locally. Here’s a quick breakdown:

AVANGRID – New England Wind 1 would use Salem as its staging port, promising $100 million in lease payments and $30 million in upfront investment for the port. The project would also provide seed funding and an initial contract for a company named Liftra to open a New Bedford-based manufacturing facility making cranes used on wind turbines. Ongoing operation and maintenance operations would be handled out of Bridgeport, Connecticut and New Bedford.

Avangrid has also signed memorandums of understanding with the city of Boston and the Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Cooperative to provide them with electricity if its project is selected and built. Boston has committed to purchasing 15 megawatts. Avangrid is also providing funding to support training for offshore wind jobs at vocational schools that are part of the Boston Public Schools system. Boston officials said the electricity would be used to power municipal buildings and residences participating in the city’s energy aggregation program.

ORSTED – Starboard Wind is seeking contracts with either Connecticut or Rhode Island, not Massachusetts. Its onshore investments are on the light side, but it promises support for the construction of advanced foundation components at the Port of Providence and said operations and maintenance work would be run from the New London State Pier in Connecticut. The company also revealed that it plans to connect to the New England power grid at Brayton Point in Somerset, Massachusetts, although officials in Somerset said the interconnection point is actually near Brayton Point. A press release said “the project will leverage innovative pricing mechanisms that would allow Rhode Island ratepayers to benefit as macroeconomic conditions improve and interest rates decline.”

OW OCEAN WINDS – The company had almost nothing to say in a press release other than that it was submitting a bid for a 1,200-megawatt project that is on schedule to start delivering power to the New England grid by 2030. The company is planning to connect its power to the grid at Brayton Point in Somerset. Its heavily redacted bid filing didn’t provide a lot of information.

VINEYARD OFFSHORE – The developer intends to use Salem as its staging site for offshore wind components, run its operation and maintenance operations out of New Bedford, and connect to the regional power grid at Montville, Connecticut. The company also plans to buy “secondary steel components for foundations” from Riggs Distler & Co., which currently operates out of the Port of Providence and is developing a new location in East Providence.