Offshore Wind Cables Could Bypass Falmouth To Brayton Point

Offshore Wind wants to route 1200 megawatts of power through the town of Falmouth to locations off Cape Cod. ISO New England commenced a feasibility study in January 2023 which should be completed and announced this month. The system impact study has not started.

If the 1200 megawatts of power feed more power into the Cape Cod grid than capacity allows, the offshore wind company must pay for all the upgrades. The ISO New England studies will inform the offshore wind company of those upgrades and costs.

ISO New England Inc. (ISO-NE) is an independent, non-profit Regional Transmission Organization. ISO New England does not approve or reject projects, but, because upgrades can be prohibitively expensive, projects may not move forward following a feasibility study.,

Based on the outcome of the ISO New England system impact study for the Falmouth offshore wind cable connector project and the required network upgrades identified it is probable that offshore wind would need to establish a second point of interconnection at Brayton Point for its second connector project, and thereby allow for delivery of the full output of the generation capacity of its lease area at Brayton Point.

Note#

Wind turbines for offshore wind farms are starting to be built further out into the ocean. This creates a new need for well-designed subsea cables rather than multiple residential Cape Cod communities.