Budget Amendment ID: FY2019-S4-958

ENV 958

Offshore Wind Energy Transmission

Messrs. Tarr, Cyr, Pacheco, O'Connor and Fattman moved that the proposed new text be amended by inserting after section__the following sections:-

"SECTION _. Section 83B of chapter 169 of the acts of 2008, as amended by chapter 188 of the acts of 2016, is hereby amended by inserting at the end thereof the following sentence:-

“Offshore wind energy transmission”, transmission that delivers electricity from offshore wind generation to the transmission system on the mainland.

SECTION _.  Subsection (b) of section 83C of chapter 169 of the acts of 2008, as amended by chapter 188 of the acts of 2016, is hereby amended by inserting after the words “shall occur within 24 months of a previous solicitation” the following words :-

and may specify that the distribution companies in coordination with the department of energy resources may competitively procure and that the distribution companies may select one or more proposals for offshore wind energy transmission sufficient to serve Massachusetts ratepayers and amount up to the full capacity of energy from designated wind energy areas for which an initial federal lease was issued on a competitive basis after January 1, 2012 that may be developed independent of offshore wind energy generation to provide transmission service for more than one wind energy generation project and provided that any selection of offshore wind energy transmission is the most cost effective mechanism for procuring reliable, low cost offshore wind energy transmission service for Massachusetts ratepayers;

SECTION _.  Clause (4) of Subsection (d) of section 83C of chapter 169 of the acts of 2008, as amended by chapter 188 of the acts of 2016, is hereby amended by inserting after the words “transmission costs included in a bid” the following words :-

or independently as offshore wind energy transmission,