Deepwater Wind has unveiled plans to build the world’s largest offshore wind and energy storage site.
Deepwater Wind has unveiled plans to build the world’s largest offshore wind and energy storage site.
The US firm says that it has placed a bid for the Revolution wind farm into Massachusetts’ clean energy request for proposals (RFP), which opened at the end of June.
Deepwater Wind is proposing the construction of a 144 MW wind farm paired with a 40 MWh battery storage system in a federal lease site located 50 km off the Massachusetts coast. It will use the City of New Bedford, Massachusetts, as its construction and operations base, it announced.
“Revolution Wind will be the largest combined offshore wind and energy storage project in the world,” said Deepwater Wind Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Grybowski. “People may be surprised by just how affordable and reliable this clean energy combo will be. Offshore wind is mainstream and it is coming to the US in a big way.”
Deepwater has also submitted alternative bids for a larger 288 MW version of Revolution Wind and a smaller 96 MW version into the RFP, which closes in December 2017. It says that the pairing of offshore wind and battery storage will offset the need for the construction of new peaking plant as well as boost the region’s nascent offshore wind energy industry.
“Revolution Wind is flexible and scalable. That’s a serious advantage of offshore wind – we can build to the exact size utilities need,” Grybowski said. “We can build a larger project if other New England states want to participate now or we can start smaller to fit into the region’s near-term energy gaps. And our pricing at any size will be very competitive with the alternatives.”
If approved, local construction work on Revolution Wind would begin in 2022, with the project in operations in 2023. Survey work is already underway at Deepwater Wind’s lease area, in which the firm is also developing the 90 MW South Fork wind farm.