Dive Brief:

• National Grid, Northeast Utilities and Unitil Corp. filed contracts with Massachusetts regulators on Friday, revealing that they have agreed to purchase 565 megawatts of electricity Maine and New Hampshire wind farms.
• The wind farms are still being developed, but are expected to be operational between 2014 and 2016.
• The contracts range from 15- to 20-year agreements, with the utilities grabbing the wind power for less than 8 cents per kilowatt hour—less than 10 cents for coal, 11 cents for nuclear, and 14 cents for solar that they might otherwise be paying.

Dive Insight:

Massachusetts has stipulated that its utilities need to get 15% of their power from renewable sources by 2020, and these deals should ​be a healthy step toward realizing that goal. The agreements are also a milestone for long-term renewable contracts and show the kind of arrangement we may see more frequently in the near future as utilities are pushed to seek out more wind and solar sources.