A PROPOSED TRANSMISSION cable manufacturing plant in Somerset to serve the US offshore wind industry cleared a major hurdle on Thursday when the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals voted unanimously to revise one of the conditions that had become a sticking point with the company. The board in mid-September voted unanimously to require Prysmian to […]
Offshore Wind
Posted inEnvironment
Avangrid says it terminated offshore wind contracts at “minimum cost”
THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE of Avangrid told financial analysts on Thursday that he was very pleased the company was able to terminate offshore wind power purchase agreements in Massachusetts and Connecticut “at minimum cost” but was noncommittal about whether the firm will be able to sign future deals at prices that will be acceptable to […]
Posted inEnergy
Tension boils over at Somerset zoning meeting
TENSION IS RISING in the South Coast community of Somerset as the town moves closer to a final decision on a zoning condition that could determine whether an Italian company opens an offshore wind factory at Brayton Point or not. At a Zoning Board of Appeals meeting Thursday night, that tension rose to the surface […]
Posted inEnvironment
First Vineyard Wind turbine installed
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE ONE DOWN, 61 to go. The Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners joint venture announced Wednesday that the installation of the first of 62 turbine generators that will make up the Vineyard Wind 1 offshore wind project has been completed about 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard, but project officials also backed […]
Posted inEnvironment
Somerset considering $20m tax break for Brayton Pt. plant
SOMERSET IS CONSIDERING giving a $20 million tax break to the Prysmian Group to help build a subsea transmission cable manufacturing facility at Brayton Point. Prysmian has already received a $25 million grant from the state for dredging and the construction of a pier. The proposed tax cut won approval from one Somerset town committee […]
Posted inEnvironment
Legal challenges by fishing groups to Vineyard Wind rejected
A FEDERAL JUDGE ruled against two fishing groups who were challenging federal environmental approvals granted to Vineyard Wind for the construction of its wind farm off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. US District Court Judge Indira Talwani granted summary judgment to Vineyard Wind and various agencies within the US Interior Department and denied summary judgments […]
Posted inEnergy, Environment
New York rejects bid to renegotiate offshore wind contracts
NEW YORK OFFICIALS followed the lead of regulators in Massachusetts on Thursday, rejecting bids by four offshore wind developers to renegotiate the prices they were awarded in previously approved contracts because of sharply rising and unexpected costs. The decision means the developers will have to either stand by the terms of their current contracts — […]
Posted inEnergy, Environment
Healey announces 3-state offshore wind procurement
NERVOUS ABOUT rising prices for offshore wind power, the states of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut are banding together to solicit larger wind farm projects that hopefully will come with lower price tags. Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey announced the three-state partnership at an offshore wind conference in Boston Wednesday morning. Individually, the three states were […]
Posted inEnergy
DPU approves termination of SouthCoast wind contract
THE MASSACHUSETTS Department of Public Utilities on Monday gave its blessing to an agreement terminating offshore wind contracts between the state’s three utilities and SouthCoast Wind, even as utilities in Connecticut moved to terminate an offshore wind contract there. The agreement approved by the DPU requires SouthCoast to pay a total of $60 million in […]
Posted inEnergy, Environment
SouthCoast Wind agrees to pay $60m to terminate power purchase agreements
THE DEVELOPER of SouthCoast Wind on Tuesday agreed to pay more than $60 million to the state’s three leading utilities to terminate power purchase agreements the company negotiated last year to build its wind farm south of Martha’s Vineyard. The SouthCoast proposal, if it is approved by the Department of Public Utilities, would be the […]