In 2022, Commercial Development Company, Inc. (CDC) made tremendous strides developing an offshore wind manufacturing hub on the site of a former coal-fired power plant. Once the largest fossil-fueled power plant in New England, the property will now be home to an electric converter station developed by Mayflower Wind which will connect offshore wind farms to the New England grid. In addition, Prysmian Group will build a facility to manufacture subsea cables that will bring offshore wind power to onshore locations.

For 60 years, Somerset MA was home to the Brayton Point Power Station, a coal-fired power plant that generated 1600 MW of electricity for local homes and businesses. In 2017, the power plant closed leaving behind a community with a loss of jobs, tax revenue, and affordable energy. In 2018, Brayton Point LLC purchased the retired power plant and invested significant resources to prepare the site for post-coal utilization, including contamination abatement, large-scale demolition, site preparation and grading, and redevelopment planning.

CDC’s strategy was to return the site to a state of productivity by reutilizing many of the same attributes that made the site successful in the past – 300 acres of waterfront land, a 34-ft deep water port, and access to a strong local talent pool. Additional market factors positioned Brayton Point favorably for offshore wind – proximity to offshore wind energy tracts in the Atlantic Ocean, a pre-existing onsite grid connection once used for coal-energy transmission, and public support for energy diversification.

In February 2022, Commercial Development Company announced an agreement with Prysmian Group to acquire 47 acres at Brayton Point to build a $250 million subsea cable manufacturing plant to support the offshore wind energy sector. “We are very pleased with the agreement reached with Commercial Development Company and the progress of our project to build a new plant in Brayton Point…which will make it possible to convert the area home to the former Somerset coal plant to production in support of the energy transition in the USA. The new plant will allow us to provide even closer support to our customers and gain a strong competitive advantage in a market expected to undergo sharp growth, with the goal of 30 GW of new capacity to be installed by 2030 under the Biden Plan,” said Hakan Ozmen, EVP Projects Business at Prysmian Group.

In July 2022, President Joe Biden visited Brayton Point to show support for the redevelopment project and to highlight the use of legacy energy assets to propel the transition to renewable energy. “Today, Brayton Point is on the frontier of clean energy in America. On this site they will manufacture 248 miles of high-tech, heavy-duty cables. These specialized subsea cables are necessary to tie offshore wind farms to the existing grid. Manufacturing these cables will mean good paying jobs for 250 workers. As many as the old power plant had at its peak.”

In addition to manufacturing components for the offshore wind industry, Brayton Point will be the landing spot for offshore wind power when it comes onshore. Mayflower Wind will deliver 1,200 MW of clean renewable energy to Brayton Point. The power will be generated at Mayflower Wind’s wind farms located 30 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard and 20 miles south of Nantucket. The wind power will travel via subsea cables and connect to the pre-existing grid at Brayton Point. From there, the wind power will link to a National Grid substation to be delivered to local residents and businesses. In total, this project has the potential to generate 2,400 MW of clean renewable energy which is enough to power more than one million homes.

The progress made at Brayton Point sets a new standard in what can be achieved at shuttered fossil fuel power plants. In the absence of a sustainable redevelopment plan, a shuttered power plant is at risk of entering a prolonged state of decay and deterioration. This often results in community blight, diminished property values, and a sustained loss of jobs and tax revenue.

The economic impact of Brayton Point’s transition to a renewable energy development will surpass the loss incurred by the closure of the coal-fired power plant. Mayflower Wind estimates construction costs for the offshore wind connection facility to be $275 million and create 25 local jobs. Prysmian Group estimates construction costs for the subsea manufacturing facility to be $250 million and create 300 local jobs.

Development-ready land is still available at Brayton Point, and Commercial Development Company expects to announce additional industrial and renewable energy sector tenants in 2023.

Click here to view CCR rule compliance data and information for Brayton Point Power Station. Documentation made available by Brayton Point LLC.