Mass. selects CT solar over Maine wind

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By James Mccarthy

In its partnership with Connecticut and Rhode Island to meet their separate clean energy goals, Massachusetts on Wednesday selected a 26.4-megawatt solar project to be built in Connecticut, rejecting more much ambitious projects in Maine.

In the New England Clean Power RFP, which has been weighing separate renewable energy projects in the Northeast for 10 months, Massachusetts selected Connecticut solar project over from Providence developer Deepwater Wind. In making the selection of that 26.4-megawatt project, Massachusetts and the other two states rejected four other proposals from utilities and developers in Maine who offers wind projects ranging in size from 550 to 650 megawatts.

In addition to constructing a separate wind project in Rhode Island, Deepwater Wind is also involved with Massachusetts' separate effort to construct 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind in the state, as the company is one of three developers who could be awarded power-purchase agreements under a state law passed earlier this year.

Deepwater Wind's project -- which is expected to go live in November -- was not the only project selected by the three states in the New England Clean Power RFP, which totaled 460 megawatts. The others included:

20 megawatts of solar in Connecticut from Framingham energy firm Ameresco
170 megawatts of solar projects in Maine, Connecticut and New Hampshire from Maine developer Ranger Solar;
126 megawatts of onshore wind in New York from New York-based Cassadaga Wind;
29 megawatts of onshore wind in New Hampshire from New Hampshire-based Antrim Wind;
Two separate solar projects in Connecticut and Rhode Island from England-based RES Americas.

The selection of the majority of projects from southern New England rejects the previously held notion that the southern states would have to look to the north for places with more wide-open spaces to construct large-enough renewable energy projects to meet their clean energy goals.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that Massachusetts and Rhode Island had selected Deepwater Wind's offshore wind project to advance to contract negotiations. The Deepwater Wind project selected by the two states, instead, involves a new 26.4 megawatt grid-scale solar project in Simsbury, Conn.