Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker hopes offshore wind will spread “all the way up and down” the US eastern seaboard, thanks to falling production costs and the success of pioneering developments in his home state.
Massachusetts is home to the 800MW Vineyard development, which won the state’s first offshore wind tender last year.
Baker told the Global Offshore Wind 2019 conference in London that the low price of the winning bid had “set the east coast on fire” by inspiring more interest from other states.
Rhode Island had selected the second-place finisher and Connecticut the third, he said.
New York and New Jersey, meanwhile, had both dramatically upped their expectations for offshore wind, while Virginia, Delaware and Maryland were also starting to talk about getting into the business, Baker added.
“The best part, from my point of view, is the interest and excitement that I hear from my colleagues in other states on both sides of the aisle, who are really excited about the possibility of creating a similarly-sized and shaped industry off the waters of their own states.”
Last month, Massachusetts opened a request for proposals for another 800MW of capacity. Its energy department has also recommended that an extra 1.6GW come up for grabs, split between 800MW lots in 2022 and 2024.
“The idea here is to create this notion that ever couple of years we’re going to be coming back out and seeking additional procurements,” Baker said
The upcoming auctions would add to “what we hope will become a very consistent, predictable process, so that folks on the supply side can make some of the decisions that they need to make”.