Deepwater Wind Teams Up with Tesla for 144MW OWF in Massachusetts

Deepwater Wind unveiled plans for its newest project off the American coast yesterday, 31 July. The 144MW Revolution Wind, an offshore wind farm that would be paired with a 40MWh battery storage system provided by Tesla, is proposed to be built in Deepwater Wind’s federal lease site off the coast of Massachusetts.

The site is located 30 miles from the mainland and about 12 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard. The wind farm would be adjacent to Deepwater Wind’s 90MW South Fork Wind Farm.

If approved, local construction work on Revolution Wind would begin in 2022, with the project in operations in 2023. At 144MW, Revolution Wind could be built in a single construction season, and developed more cost-effectively, and with considerably less risk, than a larger project, the developer stated.

Survey work is already underway at Deepwater Wind’s lease area.

“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 U.S. in a big way.”

Deepwater Wind is proposing the 144MW Revolution Wind farm in response to the Commonwealth’s request for proposals for new sources of clean energy in Section 83D of the Act to Promote Energy Diversity. In addition, the developer  provided alternative bids for a larger 288MW version of Revolution Wind and a smaller 96MW version. Deepwater Wind also intends to submit an offshore wind proposal under Massachusetts’ separate 83C offshore wind RFP. Those bids are due in December 2018.

“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.”

Deepwater Wind also announced that it will be the first offshore wind company to base construction and operations in the City of New Bedford, Mass. The company will locate final turbine assembly and staging operations at the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal.

In addition, Revolution Wind’s long-term operations and maintenance centre will be in the City. Together, this project will create hundreds of local jobs in the Commonwealth, the developer said.