ISO New England statement on Department of the Interior offshore wind announcement

ISO New England is aware of the Department of the Interior’s announcement to pause offshore wind leases in the United States which includes two projects in New England: Revolution Wind and Vineyard Wind 1.  

In August, ISO-NE issued a statement related to the Department of the Interior’s earlier order, since overturned, to stop construction on the Revolution Wind project. Our position on today’s announcement is similar.  

A significant portion of Vineyard Wind is complete and is supplying hundreds of megawatts to the region. Revolution Wind is also largely complete and the ISO anticipates the project to come online in 2026.  

Through the region’s wholesale markets, both Vineyard Wind and Revolution Wind have committed to helping meet New England’s demand for electricity. Both projects are included in our near-term and future modeling and analyses to ensure adequate electricity for New England.   

These projects are particularly important to system reliability in the winter when offshore wind output is highest and other forms of fuel supply are constrained. While ISO-NE forecasts enough generation capacity is available for the current season, canceling or delaying these projects will increase costs and risks to reliability in our region.

Beyond increasing risk to reliability, delays of new generating resources also will adversely affect New England’s economy and industrial growth, including potential future data centers. 

As we stated in August, New England must maintain and add to its energy infrastructure. Unpredictable risks and threats to resources — regardless of technology — that have made significant capital investments, secured necessary permits, and are close to completion will stifle future investments, increase costs to consumers, and undermine the power grid’s reliability and the region’s economy now and in the future. Given the prior extensive review of these projects, ISO New England hopes that to the extent there are any relevant national security concerns, they can be resolved quickly.