Connecticut Releases Offshore Wind RFP - Bids Due 9/30/19

Note that bids must be submitted to John Baldacci's Avangrid's United Illuminating, among others.

August 19, 2019

DEEP Releases Offshore Wind RFP
 
The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) on Friday released a request for proposals (RFP) for offshore wind power as required under Public Act 19-71, An Act Concerning the Procurement of Energy Derived from Offshore Wind. This request for proposals seeks up to 2,000 MW of offshore wind.
 
DEEP launched this historic RFP process within days of enactment of Public Act 19-71, and sought comments from stakeholders on a draft of the RFP in July.  As part of the RFP process, DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes convened a Commission on Environmental Standards to provide input on best practices for avoiding, minimizing, and mitigating any impacts to wildlife, natural resources, ecosystems, and traditional or existing water-dependent uses like commercial fishing. The Commission held a series of meetings over the course of two months and released a report on August 7 that provided recommendations to DEEP.
 
“This RFP represents the future of the state’s environmental, energy, and economic potential,” said Governor Ned Lamont. “I commend DEEP and the Commission on Environmental Standards for working so thoroughly to find the right balance in this RFP to preserve our ocean ecosystem while encouraging the development of a local renewable energy industry.”
 
This RFP represents the state’s first solicitation dedicated specifically to offshore wind development.   It builds off of multi-resource solicitations in 2018 in which Connecticut bought 304 MW of offshore wind from the Revolution Wind project (now owned by Ørsted).
 
“Offshore wind has the potential to significantly reduce the electric grid’s dependence on fossil fuels, improve grid reliability in the winter, and advance clean energy jobs and development here in our state, all while helping Connecticut achieve critical climate goals,” said Commissioner Dykes. “I am grateful to the Commission on Environmental Standards for working quickly to inform DEEP about opportunities to pursue offshore wind development in a manner that minimizes environmental and fisheries impacts, both in this RFP process and in any steps that follow the selection of a project in this RFP.  Through this competitive process, we look forward to seeing this emerging industry bring forward its best projects to grow our green economy and provide a cleaner source of generation for Connecticut.”
 
In response to the release of the draft request for proposals in mid-July, DEEP received over 50 comments and nearly 100 additional comments and emails directed to the Commission on Environmental Standards. DEEP carefully reviewed those comments and made the following changes to the final RFP language requiring bidders to include:
  • An Environmental and Fisheries Mitigation Plan for the construction and operation of offshore wind facilities that includes:
  • An Adaptive Plan with clearly identified Stakeholders, a Stakeholder engagement process, a plan for pre-construction and risk assessment, a process to avoid, minimize, and mitigate risks to Stakeholders throughout the project phases, and a reporting schedule on such plan.
  • Addressing how the bidder will inventory, avoid, minimize, and mitigate the following specific hazards: risk to commercial fisheries, risk to marine mammals and sea turtles with specific reference to underwater sound and collision, and risk to birds and bats.
  • A Data Reference and Sharing Plan that addresses coordination with relevant Regional Working Groups and a plan to store and share inventory and monitoring data.
  • Information on a decommission plan that includes a commitment to the process outlined by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management for federal waters, and addresses decommissioning, (including decommissioning funding) for project areas outside of federal waters.
The timeline for DEEP’s RFP aligns with a similar offshore wind solicitation run by the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources, enhancing competition and urgency as the Production Tax Credit that benefits wind production sunsets at the end of the year.  There is no minimum amount of offshore wind that DEEP must procure under this RFP, and selection decisions will depend on projects demonstrating that they are in the best interest of Connecticut’s ratepayers.  DEEP is committed to developing a schedule in its Integrated Resources Plan for future offshore wind procurements authorized under Public Act 19-71, consistent with the state’s and region’s electric needs and carbon reduction targets.
 
DEEP will hold a bidders’ conference on Thursday, August 29, 2019 at 9:30 a.m. in DEEP’s New Britain Office to allow bidders the opportunity to ask DEEP questions about the RFP.  Bids are due by noon on Monday, September 30th.
 
For more information, please visit the DEEP Energy Filings webpage section on Public Act 19-71, which can be found here: http://www.dpuc.state.ct.us/DEEPEnergy.nsf/$EnergyView?OpenForm&....
Download the Connecticut 8/16/19 Wind RFP here:
 
 
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Sources: Vineyard Wind Decision Delayed Until December 2020

Final approval for the Vineyard Wind Project will likely not happen for at least another 18 months, according to information received from multiple sources by The Public’s Radio. This means the country’s first large scale offshore wind farm won’t begin construction in time to take advantage of a lucrative federal tax credit that expires at the end of the year. 

http://www.windaction.org/posts/50201-sources-vineyard-wind-decisio...

 

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2 views on Vineyard Wind delay

Markey, Kennedy tone down rhetoric; fishing group urges caution

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/opinion/2-views-on-vineyard-wind-d...

 

Views: 202

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Comment by Art Brigades on August 20, 2019 at 3:00pm

Encouraging that southern New England appears as though they've stopped trying to jam wind projects all over Maine's hills. 

Comment by Willem Post on August 20, 2019 at 1:09pm

Reduced subsidies and increased costs due to delayed construction means the existing 1600 MW MA offshore wind turbine contract likely would be renegotiated and the cost per kWh likely will increase by at least 10 to 15%.

One has to feel sorry for the folks in MASSACHUSETTS.

Will Maine folks be next to be screwed, or will Augusta/Disgusta common sense finally prevail?

Stay tuned.

 

Maine as Third World Country:

CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power

 

Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.

Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT

******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********

(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/

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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law

Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future

"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."

https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/

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