The 83C Round 4 Evaluation Team notified stakeholders that the Electric Distribution Companies have filed a letter with the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities regarding a change in the anticipated contract execution date. Due to ongoing uncertainty caused by federal level activities, the contracting parties have not yet completed their contract negotiations and are now targeting the completion of negotiations and execution of contracts with the two counterparties on or before June 30, 2026. Accordingly, the Evaluation Team is now targeting the filing of contracts with the Department on or before August 31, 2026.

DOER, the Executive Office of Economic Development, and the Distribution Companies have completed the evaluation of bids received in response to the Section 83C IV Offshore Wind Energy Generation request for proposals (“Section 83C IV RFP”), which was coordinated with Rhode Island and Connecticut. The bid evaluation process included monitoring and assistance by an Independent Evaluator.

DOER selected 1,087 MW of the 1,287 MW SouthCoast Wind multistate project, 791 MW of the 791 MW New England Wind 1 project, and up to 800 MW of the 1,200 MW Vineyard Wind 2 project. More information regarding the selection is available here.

The final acceptance of the bids and the award of contracts is conditional upon the successful negotiation of the contracts and required regulatory approvals.

The 83C Round 4 Evaluation Team is notifying stakeholders that they are extending the Bid Selection Date and all subsequent solicitation schedule dates by an additional thirty days, as detailed below.  The additional time is needed in order to consider any impacts to this solicitation from the recently announced federal grant to New England states through the U.S. Department of Energy’s Grid Innovation Program (GIP) program for projects to invest in regional electric infrastructure to ready the onshore transmission system for offshore wind. The Evaluation Team also continues to coordinate the current Section 83C solicitation with the simultaneous solicitations ongoing in Connecticut and Rhode Island, pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) executed between the states on October 3, 2023.

Revised 83C Round IV Solicitation Schedule

Public versions of the bids received in the 83C IV solicitation have been posted at https://macleanenergy.com/83c-iv/83c-iv-bids/.

In accordance with the 83C IV RFP for Long-term Contracts for Offshore Wind Energy Projects, prospective bidders were allowed to submit written questions to the Evaluation Team pertaining to the solicitation. All questions were to be submitted to the Evaluation Team at maRFP83C@gmail.com no later than October 17, 2023. 

The Evaluation Team has posted a response to a question, providing guidance to bidders regarding entries on the CPPD Form and the Bid Fee Submittal Form. Please find the response at the 83C IV Q&A page.