Bay State Wind and Southcoast Health are exploring a long-term agreement for the sale of wind turbine electricity, according to an Orsted press release. Orsted, a Danish energy company, is a joint venture partner in Bay State Wind with Eversource.
The release states Southcoast Health agreed to negotiate for “a fixed amount of power at attractive rates.”
Part of the attractiveness is security from energy market volatility, Francis Slingsby, Orsted head of strategic partnerships, told The Times.
“A retail contract can be negotiated with a special or targeted rate,” Orsted spokesman Lauren Burm wrote in an email to The Times. “Bay State Wind (BSW) would need to structure such arrangement through a licensed competitive supplier. BSW has not yet determined whether to establish its own licensed supplier or to work with other, established suppliers.”
In a separate email, Burm wrote that special rates or targeted rates aren’t meant to imply rate discounts.
The energy Southcoast Health received would not draw from the projected 400 to 800 megawatts of power targeted in the current bid process, Slingsby said. It would be additional, based on Bay State Wind ambitions for what he estimated was the two gigawatt potential of the marine wind farm area off the Vineyard. Slingsby said greater turbine capacity would translate into better Massachusetts electric rates.
“We’re interested in building the largest project possible that unleashes the synergies and economies of scale,” he said.
Southcoast Health is the parent company of St. Luke’s Hospital of New Bedford, Charlton Memorial Hospital of Fall River, and Tobey Hospital of Wareham.
“We all share a responsibility to explore every opportunity that has the potential to minimize our dependence on fossil fuels, and promote a healthier and more sustainable environment,” Southcoast Health CEO Keith Hovan said through the release.
Bay State Wind is one of three energy companies contending for the right to build a wind farm approximately 25 miles south of the Vineyard. The winner or winners were slated to be announced on April 23, but the team evaluating the proposals instead announced it would delay the decision until May 23.