Delaware, US Wind Sign Agreements Worth 128 Million

Governor John Carney and the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) officials have signed agreements with US Wind to specify renewable energy, community and lease benefits to Delaware and its residents worth more than $128 million, as the company plans to build two proposed offshore wind projects in the future.

The finalization of the agreements followed after US Wind received the required federal and state environmental and permit approvals in December 2024 for the first US Wind project, and about a year after the initial announcement of negotiations on the agreements.

US Wind will also invest more than $200 million in transmission system upgrades.

The finalized agreements include:

• An agreement with DNREC’s State Energy Office to provide 150,000 renewable energy credits (RECs) each year associated with the wind generation, which will be transferred to Delaware utilities to help them meet clean energy requirements, thus lowering customer bills. The RECs have an estimated value of $76 million over the life of the projects.
• An agreement for US Wind to fund coastal waterway dredging, clean energy workforce training, environmental scholarships, and resiliency and capital projects at state parks. The community benefits agreement is worth $40 million over 20 years.
• A lease with Delaware State Parks for underground access for power transmission cables at Delaware Seashore State Parks. Lease payments from US Wind will total more than $12 million over 25 years.

The three agreements will facilitate the first wind projects in operation in the mid-Atlantic. The projects will sell carbon-free power into the regional power grid, and the new source of power generation is projected by US Wind to lower electric costs for Delaware ratepayers by up to $253 million over 20 years.