Posted on March 25, 2021
A New Hampshire joint commission is scheduled to meet on 23 March to discuss offshore wind and port development in the state.
On 30 July 2020, the State Governor Christopher Sununu signed a bill which, among other things, established an offshore wind commission and an offshore wind industry development office in the department of business and economic affairs.
The commission is investigating the economic development opportunities in offshore wind for New Hampshire in supply chain needs, port capabilities, workforce development, energy procurement, transmission and storage, and fisheries and marine environment. It is studying these opportunities in parallel with the work of the Gulf of Maine Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Task Force established by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).
According to the bill, the commission can ensure that New Hampshire is poised to immediately engage in, support, and benefit from the development of the offshore wind industry, and ensure that such development and the energy produced therefrom benefits economically disadvantaged populations.
The commission also may consider, at an appropriate time and in relation to the New Hampshire state energy strategy, if contracts with developers and utilities can deliver lower costs to ratepayers, and may coordinate with advisory boards established by the Executive Order 2019-06 as to assist the commission in reaching its recommendations.
