Wakefield, Mass. — In a unanimous vote last evening, the Connecticut Senate approved the procurement of an additional 2,000-MW of clean energy in the form of offshore wind energy. The vote moves the offshore legislation, previously approved by the Connecticut House, to Governor Ned Lamont for signature. The bill requires an RFP to be issued by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection within 14 days of the bill becoming law.
The legislation paves the way for offshore wind to deliver clean, affordable power to the state via robust infrastructure already in development, said executives at Anbaric, a leading transmission development company.
“Anbaric has been developing two significant transmission projects to enable the delivery of offshore wind into the state,” said Theodore Paradise, Senior Vice President of Transmission Strategy. “A 1200-MW interconnection into a Renewable Energy Center at the former location of the Brayton Point fossil-fired power station; and a 1400-MW project that would connect directly into Connecticut at the Millstone substation and be the largest offshore wind transmission project in the United States, reducing the costs per MW for Connecticut consumers.”
Ed Krapels, CEO of Anbaric added that “Anbaric’s HVDC OceanGrid projects minimize impacts to fisheries, an important element of the Connecticut legislation. The initial economic development for the state from both of these projects would be substantial and send signals that would attract follow-on investment from the wind industry.”
Controllable HVDC transmission also enables Offshore wind to replace roles that could traditionally only be performed by fossil and nuclear generation, providing large amounts of both reactive power and blackstart capability. “These are two important needed grid functions that AC transmission simply can’t provide and would make states like Connecticut far less dependent on the existing fleet for those key roles,” Paradise noted.
About Anbaric:
Anbaric creates and builds electric businesses of the future. Anbaric’s financial partner is the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. With a focus on transmission and distributed energy, Anbaric creates new entities that transform old energy systems into more effective and resilient ones with an emphasis on clean energy. For more information visit www.anbaric.com
Contact:
Erin Clarke, Anbaric
eclarke@anbaric.com
781-708-0444