Due to New England’s shares regional electricity grid, interconnected resources and common challenges, meaningful collaboration is necessary to bring offshore wind to the scale needed to maximize economic benefits and combat climate change. Some areas of offshore wind development that would benefit from deepened regional collaboration include transmission planning, workforce and supply chain development, port infrastructure, and wildlife and fisheries protection.
A Shared Vision for New England
One of the goals of our coalition is to drive New England governors and legislatures to deepen regional collaboration on offshore wind. We encourage the New England Governors to issue a joint resolution on offshore wind that would create an accountability structure for collaboration and outline a shared vision and strategic plan for offshore wind in the region.
New England for Offshore Wind also models this goal in our work. Through the coalition’s collaborative efforts, member organizations are able to share information and resources, drive advocacy to regional and federal policymakers, and coordinate state-level offshore wind advocacy.
By working together on a regional scale, New England states can:
- Strengthen and deliver on the economic promise of industry
- Optimize interconnection assets
- Invest in appropriate port infrastructure and manufacturing supply chains
- Drive cohesive and equitable workforce development
- Create strong and consistent wildlife and environmental protections
- Plan for transmission and wholesale market integration
- Address fisheries protection and mitigation
- Readily exchange best practices and lessons learned for harnessing this exciting and rapidly evolving resource
Regional Actions
- In June of 2022, the Biden Administration announced a Federal-State Offshore Wind Partnership that brings together Governors from 11 East Coast states to collaborate with the White House on key aspects of the industry, including supply chain and workforce development, and accelerate the growth of US offshore wind.
- In July 2021, nine governors sent a letter to President Biden, urging continued prioritization of offshore wind and promising regional collaboration.
- In the spring of 2021, the coalition convened New England’s Attorney General Offices and Consumer Advocates to discuss the importance of regional collaboration and planning to minimize costs and improve outcomes across our shared grid.
- The Governors Administrators of Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire all sent requests to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to schedule the Gulf of Main Inter-Governmental Task Force – a critical component of the process for defining new lease areas for offshore wind.