As part of Transmission Support Agreement and
Large Generator Interconnection Agreement, Avangrid Invested $13.7
Million to Support Cape Cod Solution Phase 1 Grid Upgrades
Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE: AGR), a leading sustainable energy company
and member of the Iberdrola Group, today joined local officials to
participate in a ribbon cutting for Eversource’s Cape Cod Solution
Phase 1 grid upgrade in Bourne, Massachusetts. As part of its New
England Wind 1 project, Avangrid provided more than $13.7 million
in critical funding for grid upgrades as part of the Transmission
Support Agreement and Large Generator Interconnection Agreement
with Eversource, supporting enhanced reliability and resiliency on
Cape Cod while providing the necessary infrastructure for the
project to deliver clean, reliable power across the region.
“As the most advanced offshore wind opportunity in the region,
New England Wind 1 is already delivering significant benefits by
supporting critical grid upgrades on Cape Cod that will not only
provide a transmission backbone for the project, but deliver a more
reliable and resilient electric system,” said Avangrid CEO Pedro
Azagra. “Our experience constructing Vineyard Wind 1 makes
clear how important it is to have the onshore infrastructure in
place to deliver the clean power from offshore wind. The completion
of these Cape Cod Solution Phase 1 upgrades, along with future
investments through our Transmission Support Agreement, moves New
England Wind 1 even closer to delivering power before the end of
the decade.”
The New England Wind 1 System Impact Study identified the uprate
to 345kV of a 115kV transmission line connecting the Bourne
Switching Station and the West Barnstable Substation as a necessary
grid upgrade. With more than $13.7 million in funding from
Avangrid, the line was converted into a 345 kV line, running from
the Bourne Substation to the West Barnstable Substation. The new
line will be initially operated at 115kV until the 345kV GIS
substations at Bourne and West Barnstable are built as part of
Phase II of New England Wind 1’s grid upgrades. With increased
capacity and additional planned upgrades, the Cape Cod electric
grid will realize significantly enhanced reliability and resiliency
from investments supported by New England Wind 1.
Avangrid signed a Transmission Support Agreement (TSA) for New
England Wind 1 with Eversource, and received approval from the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The Large Generator
Interconnection Agreement (LGIA), executed with Eversource and
ISO-NE, details the terms and conditions for interconnection
service administered by the regional grid operator, and positions
New England Wind 1 to deliver this critical power to the regional
grid. Additionally, Avangrid has also entered into a Host Community
Agreement with the Town of Barnstable for the New England Wind 1
project to make landfall at Craigville Beach and connect the power
to the Eversource substation in West Barnstable.
In March 2024, Avangrid submitted multiple proposals for the New
England Wind projects to the Massachusetts-Rhode Island-Connecticut
Multi-State Procurement for Offshore Wind. The states are
anticipated to announce selected projects from the competitive
procurement in August 2024.
New England Wind 1 is an exceptionally advanced and shovel-ready
project in federal lease area OCS-A 0534, roughly 30 miles south of
Barnstable, Massachusetts and making landfall under the Craigville
Beach parking lot. The project will border Vineyard Wind 1 to the
south.
New England Wind 1 offers extraordinary certainty and viability.
In addition to securing its interconnection and advancing critical
grid upgrades, in April 2024 the Department of the Interior
announced a Record of Decision (ROD) approving the project, with
approval of the project’s Construction and Operations Plan in July
2024. The ROD builds on the project’s complete state, regional, and
local permitting, as well as a signed a Project Labor Agreement
with the Massachusetts Building Trades. If selected in the current
competitive procurement, the project can begin construction as soon
as next year and achieve commercial operations before the end of
the decade, helping achieve ambitious 2030 state climate targets
set by the New England states.
New England Wind 1 also offers transformational economic
opportunities for the region, including catalyzing a new staging
and assembly port in Salem; bringing an offshore wind davit crane
manufacturer to New Bedford, Massachusetts; locating Operations and
Maintenance facilities in Bridgeport, Connecticut and New Bedford;
and delivering an offshore wind training hub with Survival Systems
USA at the Port of Davisville in North Kingstown, Rhode Island.
New England Wind 1 offers enough clean, reliable energy to power
approximately 400,000 homes and reduce emissions equivalent to
taking 300,000 gasoline-based cars off the road annually. The
project will create more than 4,400 full-time equivalent jobs, and
bring $3 billion of direct investment to the region.
In February 2024, Avangrid announced that it has powered up the
first five turbines for the nation-leading Vineyard Wind 1 project,
delivering clean energy to 30,000 homes and businesses in
Massachusetts. The first large-scale offshore wind project in the
United States, Vineyard Wind 1 will be the largest renewable energy
facility in New England once fully operational.
Vineyard Wind began offshore construction in late 2022, achieved
steel-in-the-water in June 2023, and completed the nation’s first
offshore substation in July 2023. Construction flows through the
New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal. In July 2021, Vineyard Wind
signed the first Project Labor Agreement for an offshore wind
project in the United States, which outlined the creation of 500
union jobs through the project. In December 2023, project
shareholders announced that Vineyard Wind 1 has delivered nearly
double of its commitment through the PLA by creating 937 union jobs
through two years of construction.
An 806-megawatt project located 15 miles off the coast of
Martha’s Vineyard, Vineyard Wind will generate electricity for more
than 400,000 homes and businesses in the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts, create 3,600 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) job years,
save customers $1.4 billion over the first 20 years of operation,
and is expected to reduce carbon emissions by more than 1.6 million
metric tons per year, the equivalent of taking 325,000 cars off the
road annually.
About Avangrid: Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE: AGR) aspires to be
the leading sustainable energy company in the United States.
Headquartered in Orange, CT with approximately $45 billion in
assets and operations in 24 U.S. states, Avangrid has two primary
lines of business: networks and renewables. Through its networks
business, Avangrid owns and operates eight electric and natural gas
utilities, serving more than 3.3 million customers in New York and
New England. Through its renewables business, Avangrid owns and
operates a portfolio of renewable energy generation facilities
across the United States. Avangrid employs approximately 8,000
people and has been recognized by JUST Capital as one of the JUST
100 companies – a ranking of America’s best corporate citizens – in
2024 for the fourth consecutive year. In 2024, Avangrid ranked
first among utilities and 12 overall. The company supports the
U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals and was named among the
World’s Most Ethical Companies in 2024 for the sixth consecutive
year by the Ethisphere Institute. Avangrid is a member of the group
of companies controlled by Iberdrola, S.A. For more information,
visit www.avangrid.com.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240522602644/en/
Media Contact: Craig Gilvarg, Director of External
Communications craig.gilvarg@avangrid.com (857) 998-1130
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