The state of Connecticut has opted not to procure any capacity from offshore wind projects in its latest round of renewable energy procurement.
Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) procured some 518MW of new solar generation and 200MW of new electric storage capacity through competitive solicitations.
The announcement marks the second time since September that the state has declined to purchase any offshore wind capacity, while its neighbours Massachusetts and Rhode Island contracted 2,878MW of capacity across three different projects in a multistate coordinated offshore wind solicitation.
Connecticut officials have been saying since then that they were still assessing project bids.
“We took a pass on this round,” Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont said at a press conference, referring to the multistate offshore wind solicitation.
“While DEEP did not select an offshore wind project in the multi-state RFP, we applaud the offshore wind selections made by Massachusetts and Rhode Island earlier this year”, the department said in a release.
“Connecticut remains committed to offshore wind, a critical source of energy supply that is helping to reduce emissions, improve grid reliability, bolster our energy supply, and support economic development in our state and region.”
The department added that it will continue to work with state and regional partners “to bring offshore wind and other resources online affordably”, including to future solicitations.
“We look forward to partnering with the other New England states on a new regional transmission procurement in 2025 to advance transmission projects that provide significant regional reliability and affordability benefits,” the department concluded, though it has not scheduled another procurement.