Letters Urge Planning For Ocean Energy Grid Connections

Argues Ocean Grid Could Help Healey Achieve Ambitious Climate Goals

A Wakefield-based energy transmission company rounded up and on Wednesday delivered to the Healey administration more than 400 letters in support of the development of an ocean grid to more neatly connect offshore wind projects to land.

Anbaric Development Partners said the 401 letters from Massachusetts residents that it delivered to Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Rebecca Tepper highlight how an ocean grid could reduce the number of cables on the seabed, limit on-shore connection points, and minimize environmental and community impacts when offshore developments start to come online.

“Achieving the Healey Administration’s bold climate goals depends on scaling offshore wind and proactively developing needed transmission infrastructure. We are encouraged that Massachusetts residents recognize the environmental and economic benefits of an ocean grid to reach our renewable energy goals,” Anbaric’s New England president, Peter Shattuck, said.

The company, which in 2019 filed a federal application to develop a single transmission network that could deliver power from offshore wind farms to Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, also called on Tepper and the Healey administration to work with other New England states to develop a “planned, shared ocean grid.”

Massachusetts has already taken steps in that direction. Along with Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connecticut, the state in September 2022 announced a joint initiative focused on an “integrated, reliable, and resilient, transmission system that will achieve the various New England states’ decarbonization targets, at least cost, and in a manner responsive to our state policies and the needs of our consumers.”

And last month, the Department of Energy Resources joined counterparts from the other New England states to submit a concept paper to the U.S. Department of Energy for an award through the Grid Innovation Program (GIP) for the development of “up to three sea-to-shore transmission links that could be integrated into an ocean grid.”

“The Participating States will endeavor to design and begin implementation of a solicitation process prior to the May GIP application deadline, though the feasibility of such an expedited process is unknown at this time,” the paper said.