New Offshore Wind Power Contracts Delayed Yet Again

The next round of offshore wind power projects for Massachusetts moved even further out of reach Monday when state officials got word that project developers and utilities will not meet Monday's already-delayed target for finalizing contracts and might not submit contracts for state approval until 2026.

Massachusetts selected 2,678 megawatts of offshore wind power spread across three projects in September 2024, kicking off contract negotiations. One of those projects has since removed itself from consideration and another has flagged the potential for a four-year delay. Massachusetts gets no meaningful energy from offshore wind, almost nine years after a clean energy law set the state on a path of decarbonization.

The next milestone after project selection has repeatedly been delayed -- the contract execution date was originally Aug. 14, 2024 and it has now been delayed at least four times since the projects were chosen to begin negotiations.

The utilities negotiating contracts with those projects informed the Department of Public Utilities in a letter Monday that they will not meet the June 30 target for finishing contract talks, or the Aug. 25 target date for contract filings. The evaluation team involved in the process, which includes the Department of Energy Resources, National Grid, Eversource and Unitil, said the latest delays are "[d]ue to ongoing uncertainty caused by federal level activities."

The group said it now expects completed negotiations and executed contracts by Dec. 31, 2025, and that those contracts will be filed with the DPU (the step at which ratepayers can learn the cost of the projects) by Feb. 25, 2026.

As the talks have dragged on, one of the projects selected has already removed itself from consideration and another has flagged the potential for a four-year delay.

"While the utilities and developers continue their hard work to memorialize the bids in binding contracts, the uncertainty created by the changing federal landscape makes it difficult to finalize contracts. Massachusetts is committed to an all-of-the-above approach to energy, including offshore wind," Lauren Diggin, a spokesperson for the Department of Energy Resources, said. "Offshore wind produced locally in Massachusetts will help lower costs, create thousands of jobs, and move use toward energy independence."

Nearly a decade after the state chose to focus its pursuit of cleaner energy generation mainly on offshore wind and Canadian hydro, neither has truly come to fruition and both face difficult political and economic conditions that have state officials reevaluating all of Massachusetts' climate and emissions mandates, plans and goals. The governor has also signaled an interest in taking a new run at nuclear power.

"We need to get as much energy into the region as possible. I've been saying this for years, and I don't really care what form of energy that is," Gov. Maura Healey responded when asked directly by Jon Keller in a Sunday morning WBZ-TV interview whether the state's emissions reduction goal for 2030 needs to be rethought.

Massachusetts state government has committed to reducing carbon emissions by at least 50% compared to 1990 baselines by 2030, by at least 75% by 2040 and by at least 85% by 2050, with tag-along policies to get the state to net-zero emissions by the middle of the century. The state also has numerous other mandates on the books, including around things like electric vehicles.

As a candidate for governor, Healey made significant climate promises: including achieving a 100% clean electricity supply statewide by 2030 and electrifying public transportation with clean power by 2040 (starting with school and MBTA buses by 2030).

Chronically high energy bills here have some residents questioning clean energy initiatives and President Donald Trump is turning federal government sentiment back towards fossil fuels rather than renewables. The Mass. House's new utilities and energy chairman said this spring that the state needs to "assess our new reality and where we go from here."

As of 2021, the most recent year with data available, state officials reported they had reduced emissions 28% below 1990 levels. The once-in-a-century pandemic was credited with helping Massachusetts meet its 2020 commitment.

The administration also acknowledged the grim picture of the state's progress towards the climate goals its leaders so often tout. Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper said in March that the Trump administration had "made it more difficult to meet the requirements, specifically on the generation side" with an executive order essentially freezing offshore wind development.

"We had planned on having a significant amount of clean energy by 2030 from offshore wind. So that's going to be a big headwind if that doesn't happen," Tepper said at the time.