Offshore Wind Wire

A seven-month old offshore wind development company announced yesterday that it intends to develop offshore wind projects in several New England locations totaling more than 1,000 megawatts (MW) of capacity.

Neptune Wind LLC, based in Massachusetts, has been researching sites in state and federal waters for projects sized between 200 MW and 500 MW of capacity.

“We have identified a number of high potential sites, including one in state waters off the central Maine coast and several others off the coast of southeastern Massachusetts,” according to a blog posting from Chuck Digate, the founder and managing general partner.  “We will seek submerged land leases after we have thoroughly vetted each site.”

Digate wrote that the company has been “quiet about our ambitions … because there was not too much to say given the immature state of the leasing process for offshore renewable energy projects in New England.”  Yesterday’s announcement was prompted by the final draft of the Massachusetts Ocean Management Plan and the final report of the Ocean Energy Task Force in Maine, according to Digate.

Massachusetts energy and environment officials released a final draft of their Ocean Management Plan on Jan 4.  That plan is designed to zone offshore wind development in state waters and is being touted as the first such initiative in the country.  It identified two areas in southeastern Massachusetts for large-scale commercial wind development.

In December, Maine’s Ocean Energy Task Force issued its final report recommending streamlined permitting of offshore wind projects in state waters, improved transmission infrastructure and state-mandated power purchase agreements.  Maine has also identified three areas for deep-water wind turbine testing.

“Assuming success in leasing then we can begin the permitting process that could take up to 5 or 6 years for each project,” Digate wrote.  “The industry is young and has massive potential for a number of developers to participate.”