Ocean Winds and Shell have reaffirmed that their 1.2GW Mayflower offshore wind farm off the US East Coast remains “viable” after regulators raised concerns over their commitment to the project.
In a filing to the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board, Mayflower Wind noted that moves made by both it and another Massachusetts offshore wind project, Commonwealth Wind, “have caused regulators to raise some concerns about the viability of the Mayflower Wind Clean Energy Resource and its related transmission connector projects”.
It noted that the project “is viable and progressing in its development despite challenges caused by extraordinary global macroeconomic conditions,” and that it is “fully committed to the development and permitting of its Clean Energy Resource and its necessary transmission connector projects”.
In October, Commonwealth Wind attempted to renegotiate its PPAs with three Massachusetts utilities, with Mayflower Wind subsequently filing in support of the move, along with a call for a similar suspension in the approval of its own PPAs.
Commonwealth Wind had previously warned that the terms of its contracts made the project “no longer viable”.
Mayflower is seeking to build a power transmission line from the project to the site of the former Brayton Point Power Station in Somerset, Massachusetts. This would have to go up the Sakonnet River, a tidal strait in Rhode Island.
The Rhode Island Energy Facility Siting Board raised the possibility of suspending the approval of the line from Mayflower.
According to the body, Mayflower’s statements in favour of the PPA suspension raised concerns about the financial viability of the project, with the EFSB ordering the company to explain why approval of the transmission line should not be paused.
“Mayflower Wind did not state that its Clean Energy Resource or its necessary transmission connector projects were not viable, but raised reasonable concerns about the economics of the projects in light of extraordinary inflation and supply chain issues affecting the offshore wind industry, and expressed a desire for the parties to the PPAs to examine those concerns,” Mayflower’s response reads.
In addition, the filing said that the company will testify before the Rhode Island EFSB that the project is viable and its development is progressing.