Massachusetts officials have delayed the fifth round of offshore wind procurement for the state until at least next year.
Officials from the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) wrote in an early August memo that consultation feedback from developers overwhelmingly recommended not issuing the next request for proposals for offshore wind projects until 2026 at the earliest.
Commenters pointed to “federal policy uncertainty such as the Presidential Memorandum halting federal permitting of wind projects, ensuing litigation challenging that Memorandum, availability of the investment tax credit, and tariff uncertainty”, DOER lawyers wrote in the memo.
Massachusetts has also repeatedly delayed finalising offtake contracts with winners from the state’s fourth round of solicitation.
Iberdrola’s 791MW New England Wind 1 proposal and Ocean Winds’ 1287MW SouthCoast Wind both won contracts from the state in September 2024, but negotiations with the state have been muddled by uncertainty at the federal level, DOER lawyers wrote.
SouthCoast Wind’s offtake contract would be split, with Massachusetts taking 1087MW and neighbouring Rhode Island taking 200MW of the proposal.
State negotiators are now targeting finalisation of fourth round contracts by the end of this year.
Fifth round solicitation hopefuls told the state they want to see the fourth round negotiations concluded before entering the next round.