PPL, Elia Group to submit New England offshore wind power transmission proposals

PPL Corporation and Elia Group said Oct. 24 they had agreed to develop transmission solutions to connect future offshore wind power capacity to the onshore New England grid where up to 30 GW of offshore wind capacity could be deployed by 2050.

"As the US seeks to accelerate the development of offshore wind to advance a cleaner energy future, it's essential that we prepare to integrate that wind as reliably and efficiently as possible to strengthen grid resilience and keep energy affordable," Vincent Sorgi, president and CEO of PPL, said in a statement.

Sorgi added that PPL and Elia Group intend to "leverage our shared vision and deep expertise to propose solutions that advance decarbonization goals, enhance energy security and drive value for consumers."

Specifically, the companies said they will combine PPL's experience in building and operating large-scale onshore transmission assets in the US with Elia's experience in building, integrating and operating offshore high-voltage direct current, or HVDC, networks in Europe.

Elia Group said that through its subsidiaries in Belgium, Elia, and Germany, 50Hertz, the company has connected 14 wind farms totaling 3.5 GW by end of 2022 to its onshore grid and currently operates three HVDC subsea cable interconnectors.

The company "built the world's first hybrid interconnector," which is connected to three offshore wind farms, and built the first offshore AC grid in Germany, the statement said. Elia is also currently working on an integrated European offshore grid that will link wind farms and HVDC interconnectors to multiple European countries, the company said.

New England proposal request

PLL and Elia Group plan to jointly respond to a request for information issued by Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, and New Hampshire, states that are seeking input from stakeholders related to transmission system changes and upgrades needed to integrate future renewable energy resources into their power grids, according to the statement.

Recognizing the need to start planning early for transmission upgrades that typically take several years, the companies said recent studies, including Massachusetts' Energy Pathways to Deep Decarbonization report, which is cited in the RFI, assume that up to 30 GW of New England offshore wind power capacity will be deployed by 2050.

The report said offshore wind is the "backbone of decarbonized electricity generation in Massachusetts" and across all the pathways modeled, a minimum of 15 GW of offshore wind was installed in Massachusetts waters by 2050. One of the scenarios assumed that regionally 30 GW of offshore wind capacity would be installed by 2050.

"By uniting our complementary skills and building on the experience Elia Group has built up in Europe, we want to undertake offshore development in the interest of society," Chris Peeters, CEO of Elia Group, said, adding that "our values and ambitions in terms of driving the energy transition are well matched."

The New England information request focuses on finding the most effective points of interconnection for offshore wind power, minimizing land-based transmission upgrades that have "traditionally been sited in overburdened and underserved communities," designing and implementing HVDC systems to provide the most efficient system structure, how to "co-optimize transmission infrastructure" to provide maximum consumer benefits, and reducing overall system costs and consumer impacts, according to a September announcement describing the initiative.

Comments on the RFI are due by 4:00 pm ET Oct. 28, and the information will inform state decisions on whether to take additional steps toward procuring or facilitating transmission investment.