Massachusetts offshore wind contracts get delayed again, until June

The nascent Massachusetts offshore wind industry suffered another setback on Monday when the state’s three utilities pushed off a deadline for filing contracts with two proposed wind farms that would go up in waters south of Martha’s Vineyard.

The three utilities — Eversource, National Grid, and Unitil — had originally expected to finish negotiating binding contracts with the developers of SouthCoast Wind (the Ocean Winds joint venture) and New England Wind 1 (Avangrid) by March 31. But when that date arrived, the utilities notified the state Department of Public Utilities that they would need until June 30 to finish negotiating binding contracts with the project developers.

Federal policy is an important factor in these negotiations, state officials said, and the companies are trying to gain greater certainty after the election of President Donald Trump, who generally has been hostile to offshore wind energy, before finalizing the contracts. The Healey administration said on Monday that it remains committed to “embracing a diverse energy supply including offshore wind.”

This three-state bidding process has already been delayed multiple times. Eventually, in September, Massachusetts and Rhode Island officials approved new bids for contracts with SouthCoast Wind, while Massachusetts officials also approved a bid for contracts to finance New England Wind 1. A third wind farm, Vineyard Wind 2, was shelved after Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont opted not to team up with Massachusetts to contract with the project because of cost concerns.

The industry faced delays in getting started under the first Trump administration, but picked up momentum during Joe Biden’s presidency, until rampant inflation and high borrowing costs prompted several offshore wind contracts to be scuttled, and rebid. So far, only one project has begun to serve Massachusetts ratepayers: Vineyard Wind, a joint venture owned by Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. Construction has been slow lately on that project because one blade broke apart last July, raining debris into the ocean, and prompting the developers and manufacturer GE Vernova to replace a number of other blades.

Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him @jonchesto.