Mayflower Wind Energy LLC, which is proposing to develop transmission facilities that would run up the Sakonnet River, cross Portsmouth and reenter Mt. Hope Bay, has asked for a continuance of a show-cause hearing before the R.I. Energy Facility Siting Board (EFSB) that had been scheduled for Monday, Dec. 19.

In a Dec. 8 letter to the EFSB, Mayflower attorneys Christian F. Capizzo and Robert K. Taylor stated that “despite diligent efforts to date, Mayflower and its witness(es) need additional time to prepare testimony and materials to respond to the board’s Nov. 10, 2022 show-cause order.”

Mayflower requested the the hearing “be rescheduled to a date to be determined after consultation between Mayflower and counsel for the board.”

On May 31 of this year, Mayflower filed an application with the EFSB to construct Rhode Island-jurisdictional transmission facilities necessary to connect its offshore wind generation facility to the onshore regional transmission system. 

Mayflower wants to construct transmission facilities in Rhode Island that run up the Sakonnet River, cross Portsmouth and reenter Mt. Hope Bay, before making final landfall in Somerset.

The EFSB convened a preliminary hearing on Mayflower’s application on Aug. 18. During an Oct. 4 meeting, the board determined the issues to be considered in its evaluation of Mayflower’s application and designated various agencies to render advisory opinions to the board to aid its evaluation of the application. 

The EFSB was in the process of finalizing its preliminary order and initiating its evaluation of the application when its chairman, Ron Gerwatowski, learned that Mayflower had recently requested the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (MADPU) suspend its contract approval proceeding for the project (whose Rhode Island transmission facilities are currently pending before the Board in this docket), citing concerns over the economic and financial viability of the project.

On Nov. 10, after learning about Mayflower Wind’s suspension request to the MADPU and its concerns, Gerwatowski ordered Mayflower to show cause why the board should not stay its proceedings regarding the Rhode Island-jurisdictional transmission facilities until 1) MADPU approves the contract; and 2) until Mayflower can demonstrate the economic and financial viability of its proposed project. 

Mayflower Wind’s application is on file and available for public review here.