Massachusetts’ Department of Energy Resources (DOER) has pushed back its timetable for bid selection in its fourth offshore wind solicitation.
In a 6 August letter, DOER informed the state’s Department of Public Utilities (DPU) it has delayed the selection timeline to allow for the consideration of a recently announced $389m federal grant to the New England states to upgrade their transmission infrastructure for offshore wind.
Specifically, DOER wants to consider the impacts of the new grant on on the solicitation.
The selection of projects and the commencement of negotiations was set to begin 7 August, and will now begin on 6 September.
The signing of long-term contracts and memorandums of understanding with DOER has been pushed from 9 October to 8 November, while the submission of long term contracts for DPU approval has been extended from 13 November to 18 December.