COMMONWEALTH OF ENERGY FACILITIES SITING BOARD

Petition of NSTAR Electric Company d/b/a ) Pursuant to G.L. c. 164, § 69J ) for Approval to Construct and Operate a New ) 115-kV Electric Transmission Line Between the ) EFSB 19-06 Bourne Switching Station and West Barnstable ) Substation ) ) Petition of NSTAR Electric Company d/b/a ) Eversource Energy Pursuant to G.L. c. 164, § 69J ) for Approval to Construct and Operate a New ) 115-kV Electric Transmission Line Through the ) D.P.U. 19-142 Towns of Bourne, Sandwich, and Barnstable ) ) ) Petition of NSTAR Electric Company d/b/a ) Eversource Energy Pursuant to G.L. c. 40A, § 3 ) for Individual and Comprehensive Exemptions ) from the Zoning Ordinance of the Town of ) D.P.U. 19-143 Barnstable ) ) ) ENERGY LLC’S PETITION FOR LEAVE TO INTERVENE

Pursuant to 980 CMR § 1.05, 220 CMR § 1.03, and the Notice of Adjudication and Notice of Public Comment Hearing issued by the Energy Facilities Siting Board (the

“Siting Board”) on May 7, 2020, Mayflower Wind Energy LLC (“Mayflower Wind” or

“Mayflower”) hereby petitions the Siting Board for leave to intervene as a full party in the above-referenced consolidated proceedings. Mayflower Wind states the following in support of this Petition:

Eversource’s Proposed Project

1. On November 8, 2019, NSTAR Electric Company d/b/a Eversource Energy

(“Eversource”) filed a petition seeking approval from the Siting Board pursuant to G.L. c.

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164, § 69J (the “Section 69J Petition”). In the Section 69J Petition, Eversource proposes to construct and operate an approximately 12.5-mile, overhead 115-kilovolt (“kV”) electric transmission line (the “New Line,” and together with related station improvement, the “Mid Cape Reliability Project”). The New Line would run along an existing Eversource right-of-way (“ROW”), ROW # 342, between Eversource’s Bourne

Switching Station and West Barnstable substation.

Description of Mayflower Wind

2. Mayflower Wind is an offshore wind energy developer with an address of 2

Drydock Avenue, , MA 02210. Mayflower Wind is a joint venture project of

Shell New Energies US LLC and EDPR Offshore North America LLC. As such,

Mayflower Wind is backed by the combined capability, experience, commitment to innovation, and financial strength of a world-leading offshore energy developer and a world-leading and developer.

3. On May 23, 2019 the Massachusetts electric distribution companies (the

“Distribution Companies”), in coordination with the Massachusetts Department of

Energy Resources (“DOER”), issued a Request for Proposals for Long-term Contracts for

Offshore Wind Energy Projects pursuant to Section 83C of Chapter 169 of the Acts of

2008, as amended by chapter 188 of the Acts of 2016, An Act to Promote Energy

Diversity (“Section 83C II”). The RFP sought to procure at least 400 MW, and up to 800

MW, of offshore wind energy generation. Project developers, including Mayflower

Wind, submitted bids in August 2019. Mayflower Wind proposed four potential projects

– a 400 MW project and three proposals for 800 MW projects, including Mayflower

Wind’s Project 2, the 804 MW Low Cost Energy proposal. Following a bid evaluation

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process, including monitoring and assistance by an Independent Evaluator, the

Distribution Companies selected Mayflower Wind’s Project 2 as the winning bid on

October 30, 2019. On January 10, 2020, the Distribution Companies and Mayflower

Wind executed the long-term Power Purchase Agreements (“PPA”). On February 10,

2020, the PPAs were filed for approval with the Department of Public Utilities (“DPU”) in dockets DPU 20-16, DPU 20-17 and DPU 20-18.

4. Mayflower Wind’s offshore wind energy generation project is located offshore from the southern coast of Massachusetts in federal waters, approximately 26 nautical miles (48 km) south of the island of Martha’s Vineyard and 20 nautical miles (37 km) south of within federal lease area OSC-A 0521. Mayflower Wind is actively engaged in the process of developing a 1,200 megawatt (“MW”) offshore wind energy project, which will be used to supply clean, renewable energy to New England to meet state policy objectives, including to supply power under the PPAs. Mayflower Wind stated in its Section 83C II bid proposal that it intends to bring its power onshore in

Falmouth, Massachusetts and then north through to an interconnection point on the regional transmission system at a switching station that Mayflower will build in

Bourne, Massachusetts. Mayflower is currently pursuing a co-optimized strategy cooperatively with Eversource. Under the plan presented in Mayflower Wind’s 83C II proposals, a new 345-kV generator-lead circuit and a new 345-kV switching station in

Bourne would tap in and out of Eversource’s 322 (Canal – Carver) and 342-2 (Canal –

Jordan Tap) transmission lines along Eversource ROWs 342 and 380. Under that plan,

Mayflower’s proposed switching station would be located adjacent to or in the immediate vicinity of Eversource’s Bourne 115kV Switching Station. Mayflower Wind is engaged

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in discussions with Eversource to refine this co-optimization strategy and the infrastructure and permitting processes that will flow from that strategy.

5. Mayflower Wind’s selected bid and its preferred route are premised on using existing ROWs and other previously-disturbed land to minimize environmental impacts and costs to customers. One of the existing ROWs that Mayflower has planned to use is

Eversource ROW 340, which Eversource identifies in its routing analysis as “Candidate

Route 2 – Eversource ROWs 340, 345 and 381”, submitted in this proceeding as an alternative route that it considered but did not select for its Mid Cape Reliability Project.1

ROW 340 runs roughly south to north between Falmouth and Bourne to Eversource’s

Bourne Switching Station. In July of 2019, Mayflower Wind submitted a co-location request with Eversource to enable Mayflower to use ROWs 340, 342 and 380, among other ROWs south of Eversource’s Bourne Switching Station, to install the 345-kV transmission facilities necessary to deliver power from the Mayflower offshore wind project to its intended point of interconnection on the regional transmission facilities at the Bourne switching station. Mayflower intends to ensure that no adverse impacts to

Eversource’s existing and future customers result from its use of ROWs 340, 342 and/or

380. Eversource has not yet provided any final determination regarding this request, but has initiated and continued discussion with Mayflower Wind regarding co-optimization of potential uses of ROWs 340, 342 and/or 380 and the Mid Cape Reliability Project.

6. Offshore wind projects such as Mayflower Wind’s support important policies of the Commonwealth in the public interest, including those pertaining to energy, the environment, public health and the economy, and they carry out legislative mandates

1 See Eversource Petition Volume I, EFSB 19-06, (November 8, 2019), at 4-24.

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including those embodied in the Act to Promote Energy Diversity, St. 2016, c. 188.

Section 83C II requires the Distribution Companies, Eversource among them, to procure an initial target of 1,600 MW of offshore wind energy. Under the Act to Advance Clean

Energy, St. 2018, c. 227, § 21, DOER has expanded the amount of offshore wind generation that will be procured under the Act to Promote Energy Diversity to 3,200

MW.2 Appropriate use of existing utility company ROWs, especially on Cape Cod, will be a critically important feature of carrying out these important state policies and legislative mandates, especially if they can be done on a co-optimization basis that recognizes likely load growth due to increased electrification of the transportation and building (heating and cooling) sectors.

7. Mayflower Wind does not now take a position in favor of or in opposition to the

Mid Cape Reliability Project, including whether the Siting Board should approve the project, and if so under what conditions. Mayflower Wind appreciates that transmission upgrades, such as the one Eversource proposes here, may be needed to maintain reliability on Cape Cod and more generally in southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode

Island, and to enhance the ability of offshore wind facilities to help meet the

Commonwealth’s clean/renewable energy policies and similar policies in other New

England states. Mayflower Wind’s primary interest in this proceeding is to ensure that

Eversource designs and executes its Mid Cape Reliability Project in a way that will: (i) foster offshore wind development, (ii) avoid project alternatives that would adversely

2 The Act to Advance Clean Energy authorized DOER to solicit up to 3,200 MW, pending a DOER study about the “necessity, benefits and costs” of doing so. DOER’s study showed that, among other findings, an additional procurement for 1,600 MW of offshore wind energy has “a likelihood of cost-effectiveness that justifies additional solicitations,” so DOER will now require the EDCs to solicit an additional 1,600 MW of offshore wind energy. See Mass. Dep’t Energy Resources, Offshore Wind Study, at 5-6 (May 2019), available at https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2019/05/31/OSW%20Study%20-%20Final.pdf.

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affect Mayflower Wind’s planned interconnection to the regional grid, and (iii) preserve the ability to share use of existing ROWs to support the interconnection facilities necessary for Mayflower Wind’s project and its intended use of existing ROWs, including ROWs 340, 342, and 380 to interconnect at Bourne, and to minimize costs and environmental impacts in doing so.

This Proceeding Will Substantially and Specifically Affect Mayflower Wind

8. In conducting adjudicatory hearings, the Siting Board “may allow any person showing that he may be substantially and specifically affected by the proceeding to intervene as a party in the whole or any portion of the proceeding, and allow any other interested person to participate by presentation of argument orally or in writing, or for any other limited purpose, as the agency may order.” G.L. c. 30A, § 10(4); see 220

C.M.R. § 1.03(1); 980 CMR § 1.05(1)(b). Additionally, the Siting Board’s Rules for the

Conduct of Adjudicatory Proceedings, 980 CMR 1.00 et seq., (“Rules”) further provide, at 980 CMR 1.05(1)(d), that the Presiding Officer shall rule on the petitions to intervene as a party and “may condition any allowance of a petition on such reasonable terms as

[she] may set.” Thus, in addition to considering whether a petitioner has shown that he may be substantially and specifically affected by a proceeding, the Siting Board may consider, among other factors, the scope of the proceeding, the nature of the petitioner’s interests, whether the petitioner’s interests are unique and cannot be raised by any other petitioner, and the potential effect of the petitioner’s intervention, including whether participation by the petitioner is likely to help elucidate the issues in the proceeding. See e.g., NSTAR Electric Company d/b/a Eversource Energy, D.P.U. 19-80, Presiding

Officer Ruling on Motion to Intervene (January 21, 2020); LLC, EFSB

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17-05/D.P.U. 18-18/18-19, Presiding Officer Ruling on Motions to Intervene and

Motions to Participate as a Limited Participant, (May 23, 2018); NSTAR Electric

Company d/b/a Eversource Energy, EFSB 16-02/D.P.U. 16-77, Presiding Officer Ruling on Motions to Intervene and Motions to Participate as Limited Participants, (December 8,

2016); Associates, LLC, EFSB 07-8, Presiding Officer Ruling on

Intervention and Scope of Proceeding, (February 15, 2008).

9. Mayflower Wind will be substantially and specifically affected by this proceeding for at least the following reasons related to use of the Eversource ROWs, including ROW

340, 342 and/or 380. First, Mayflower Wind has articulated in its Section 83C II bid plans to use existing ROWs, including Eversource ROWs 340, 342 and/or 380 for transmission from Falmouth to Bourne and interconnection at Mayflower’s planned

Bourne switching station, both to fulfill its obligations under the PPAs and to bring additional clean/renewable energy into the Commonwealth in a way that minimizes costs and environmental impacts. In this proceeding, Eversource has proposed a new 115-kV line from Barnstable to Bourne using ROW 342 that will interconnect at the Eversource

Bourne switching station. Mayflower understands that the New Line will or may cross

ROW 340 to access Eversource’s Bourne Switching Station. Moreover, Eversource is in the process of rebuilding its Bourne Switching Station, and part of the location of the new

Eversource switching station is on ROW 340. Under the plans presented in its Section

83C II proposals, Mayflower would use ROW 340 to access its own switching station in

Bourne at a location adjacent to or in the immediate vicinity of the Eversource Switching

Station. Eversource’s proposed new 115-kV line and its interconnection at the new

Eversource Bourne Switching Station could adversely affect Mayflower’s potential

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ability to use ROWs 340, 342 and/or 380 and thereby adversely affect its ability to minimize costs and environmental impacts. Eversource’s proposed New Line and interconnection would have an impact on any potential co-optimization strategy undertaken jointly between Eversource and Mayflower Wind. More specifically, based on the following, Mayflower has an interest that could be substantially and specifically affected by this proceeding: (i) the planned construction of Mayflower Wind’s new switching station adjacent to or in the immediate vicinity of Eversource’s Bourne 115kV

Switching Station, (ii) Mayflower Wind’s planned interconnection to the regional grid by tapping in and out of Eversource’s 322 (Canal – Carver) and 342-2 (Canal – Jordan Tap) transmission lines within Eversource ROWs 342 and 380, and (iii) Mayflower Wind’s planned related use of Eversource ROW 340 for Mayflower Wind’s new proposed 345- kV generator-lead circuit from Falmouth to its planned interconnection in Bourne.

Mayflower interests are unique and cannot be represented by any other party to this proceeding.

10. Second, Eversource has included a “Noticed Variation” as part of its Section 69J

Petition, which Eversource describes as follows:

This “Noticed Variation” is to build the Project’s transmission structures to be capable of operating at 345-kV should the need for operation at that voltage materialize in the future. The ISO-NE has completed multiple studies for offshore wind facilities proposing to interconnect in the Cape Cod Area with over 2,600 MW of generation proposing to connect to the Barnstable or West Barnstable Substations. To meet the current identified need for the Project and to minimize the potential siting, cost, community and environmental impacts of an entirely distinct 345-kV line or rebuilding the proposed 115-kV line to 345-kV standards in the future, the

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Company is presenting this Noticed Variation to build the Project to 345-kV standards but operate at 115-kV.3

Based on a review of the ISO-NE interconnection feasibility study for a Vineyard Wind interconnection request, Mayflower understands that this Noticed Variation could result in use by Vineyard Wind and related upgrade work to transmission facilities located on

ROW 340. This related upgrade work could substantially and specifically affect

Mayflower’s intent to use ROW 340 and other Eversource ROWs to minimize costs to customers and environmental impacts of the onshore portion of the Mayflower Wind project.

11. Third, allowing Mayflower to intervene in this docket and represent its interests as an offshore wind developer will further the Siting Board’s statutory mandate. “It has long been the practice of the Siting Board, in ruling on a petition to intervene, ‘to exercise its discretion so that it may conduct a proceeding with the goal of issuing a reasoned, fair, and impartial decision that achieves its statutory mandate.’” Exelon West Medway, LLC,

EFSB 17-01, at 2, Ruling on Petitions to Intervene, (March 23, 2017) (citing U.S.

Generating Company, EFSB 96-4, at 4, Procedural Order, (November 26, 1996)). The

Siting Board’s mandate “to provide a reliable energy supply for the commonwealth with a minimum impact on the environment at the lowest possible cost,” G.L. c. 164 § 69H, is in alignment with the Commonwealth’s offshore wind procurement policies and statutory requirements. Mayflower Wind’s project will substantially advance these goals and mandates. The Siting Board has broad discretion in considering petitions to intervene, and may consider, among other factors, the scope of the proceeding, and the potential

3 See Eversource Petition Volume II, EFSB 19-06, (November 8, 2019), at ES-1.

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effect of the petitioner’s intervention, including whether participation by the petitioner is likely to help elucidate the issues in the proceeding, including, in this case, issues related to use of Eversource ROWs to carry out state policy objectives to procure offshore wind.

Mayflower Wind’s intervention will further those considerations, which are central to the

Siting Board’s statutory mandate.

12. Moreover, because Mayflower Wind has stated grounds sufficient to show it will be substantially and specifically affected by this proceeding, any attempts to prevent or limit the scope of Mayflower Wind’s intervention based on factual disputes are untimely.

As the Siting Board has previously stated, the time of deciding whether to grant or deny a petition to intervene, “is not the proper time for the Board to deny [petitioner’s] intervention request based on evidence that the Siting Board has not had the opportunity to review.” Colonial Gas Company d/b/a National Grid, EFSB 18-01, at 4-5, Ruling on

Motions to Intervene and Motions to Participate as Limited Participants, (August 6,

2018). The exact extent to which Mayflower Wind’s project will be impacted by the Mid

Cape Reliability Project is a factual issue, “and it would be premature to decide such an issue at the pleadings stage.” Id. at 5. At this stage, the Siting Board should not limit the scope of the evidence or issues in this proceeding provided those relate to its statutory mandate. Similarly, in a recent decision on a petition to intervene of another offshore wind developer, the DPU declined to “preemptively exclude issues relating to the

Company’s proposed construction and operation of the Project, including its proposed use of the ROW, from the issues that the Department and other parties may explore during the course of this proceeding.” NSTAR Electric Company d/b/a Eversource

Energy, DPU 19-80, at 4, (January 21, 2020). In doing so, the decision stated that “the

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Department considers all aspects of the public interest in making a determination under

Section 72” and “[a]ll factors affecting any phase of the public interest and public convenience must be weighed fairly by the Department in a determination under Section

72.” Id. Likewise, here, Mayflower Wind’s participation in this proceeding will assist the

Siting Board in elucidating the issues of this proceeding as related to the Siting Board’s statutory mandate and the public interest and public convenience in furthering state mandated procurement of offshore wind and its onshore siting.

Good Cause Exists to Grant Mayflower Wind’s Petition for Leave to Intervene

13. Good cause exists to grant Mayflower Wind’s petition to intervene because:

a. Mayflower Wind will be substantially and specifically affected by the

Siting Board’s decisions in this proceeding;

b. This petition is timely;

c. Granting this petition will not delay this proceeding or jeopardize it in any

way;

d. No party will be prejudiced by Mayflower Wind’s participation in this

proceeding; and

e. Mayflower Wind’s participation in this proceeding will contribute to the

development of a complete record and assist the Siting Board in

evaluating Eversource’s Section 69J Petition.

14. In addition, Mayflower Wind will offer a unique perspective to the proceeding.

Mayflower Wind is developing one of the nation’s first commercial scale offshore wind facilities along with the offshore and onshore facilities necessary to interconnect that facility to the electric grid on Cape Cod. Mayflower Wind, therefore, brings a current,

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practical, industry-based perspective and insight regarding offshore wind and transmission development, particularly on Cape Cod.

15. Mayflower Wind’s intervention will also serve the public interest. The

Commonwealth has chosen offshore wind as a critically important part of its renewable energy policy, reflected in its current procurement goal of 3,200 MW of offshore wind energy. Mayflower Wind was selected to provide 800 MW of that goal. In addition,

Mayflower Wind’s project will bolster the emerging U.S. offshore wind industry in

Massachusetts, and particularly on Cape Cod. The project is forecasted to provide substantial benefits to Massachusetts and the region, including substantial improvements to regional reliability, reduced greenhouse gas and other emissions, energy cost savings, and employment in the offshore wind industry and ancillary businesses. For these reasons, the public has an interest in seeing Mayflower Wind’s project completed successfully. Mayflower Wind’s intervention in this proceeding will help serve that goal.

16. No other party can adequately represent Mayflower Wind’s interests. As explained above, the Mid Cape Reliability Project substantially and specifically affects the offshore wind project that Mayflower Wind is developing. Mayflower Wind is the only entity that can represent its own offshore wind development and onshore transmission interests.

17. If Mayflower Wind’s petition for leave to intervene is granted, Mayflower Wind may present evidence or take positions relating to (1) how the New Line and entire Mid

Cape Reliability Project, as well as the Noticed Alternative, might be built to appropriately take into account the development of Mayflower Wind’s offshore wind project; (2) the use of Eversource ROWs by third parties such as Mayflower Wind, either

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directly or collaboratively with Eversource through a co-optimization approach, to carry out the policies of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; and (3) other related matters.

The Siting Board Should Grant Mayflower Wind’s Petition

18. For the reasons expressed in this petition, Mayflower Wind’s intervention in this proceeding is necessary and appropriate under G.L. c. 30A, § 10(4). See also 220 C.M.R.

§ 1.03(1); 980 CMR § 1.05(1).

19. Therefore, Mayflower Wind requests the right to intervene as a party-in-interest in all aspects of this proceeding, including, as it deems necessary, the presentation of testimony, participation in discovery, cross-examination of witnesses, the presentation of arguments orally and through briefs, and the right to be aggrieved by any final decision, order, or ruling for the purposes of G.L. c. 25, § 5.

20. Mayflower Wind requests to intervene to ensure that Eversource designs and executes its Mid Cape Reliability Project in a way that fosters, rather than inhibits, offshore wind development and enables appropriate use of the ROWs it holds as steward for its customers and the public interest. More specifically, Mayflower Wind wishes to ensure that Eversource makes decisions regarding its ROWs, including in the design and construction of the Mid Cape Reliability Project, to facilitate and not adversely affect

Mayflower Wind’s project and its intended use of existing ROWs, including Eversource

ROWs 340, 342 and/or 380 to interconnect at Mayflower’s planned Bourne switching station.

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WHEREFORE, Mayflower Wind respectfully requests that the Siting Board grant this Petition for Leave to Intervene as a party-in-interest in the above-referenced docket.

Respectfully Submitted,

Mayflower Wind Energy LLC

By its attorney:

______

Eric K. Runge Day Pitney LLP One International Place Boston, MA 02110 (617) 345-4735 [email protected]

Dated: June 30, 2020

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