Connecticut governor signs into law 2-GW offshore wind bill

Offshore wind farm. Author: Beverley Goodwin. License: Creative Commons, Attribution 2.0 Generic

Connecticut’s governor Ned Lamont on Friday signed new legislation that will bring up to 2 GW of offshore wind capacity to the state, to be procured through a competitive selection starting in August.

As previously announced, House Bill 7156 was given the green light by the House of Representatives in May and last week received approval by the Connecticut Senate. The new legislation authorises the state to buy up to 2 GW of offshore wind power, equal to 30% of the state load.

In line with the plan, the state directs the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) to start a request for proposals (RfP) to select eligible proposals. DEEP, in turn, is collaborating with the Commission on Environmental Standards to ensure that the solicitation will use best practices to protect the environment.

The RfP will be conducted according to the following schedule:

Date	Event
June 14, 2019	Receipt of scoping written comments
July 1, 2019	Draft solicitation release
July 15, 2019	Receipt on comments on the draft solicitation
July 17, 2019	Release of draft recommendations for the RfP
July 24, 2019	Comments on the RfP recommendations
July 31, 2019	Release of final RfP recommendations
August 15, 2019	RfP release
September 30, 2019	Bidding deadline
November 2019	Selection of bids

“Connecticut should be the central hub of the offshore wind industry in New England,” governor Lamont said.

Last year, Connecticut selected the Revolution Wind project as the winner in a competitive solicitation for offshore wind and will get 300 MW of its output. The 700-MW project is owned by Denmark's Ørsted A/S (CPH:ORSTED) and New England utility Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) and is seen to become operational in 2023.

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