PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Rhode Island and Massachusetts made history in New England, taking further steps toward powering homes with offshore wind.
The coalition of states announced on Friday that they have selected 2,878 megawatts (MW) of offshore wind, marking the largest offshore wind selection in the region’s history.
“The ‘selection of megawatts’ refers to the process in which a state or group of states decides how much offshore wind energy capacity to commit to purchasing from developers,” Robert Beadle with the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources told 12 News.
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Rhode Island and Massachusetts have evaluated proposals from developers and selected specific projects based on criteria like cost and energy capacity.
“After this selection, the chosen developers are tasked with building the infrastructure (wind turbines, transmission lines, etc.) to generate and deliver the specified amount of energy to the grid,” Beadle explained.