May 12, 2021 – Vineyard Wind has received approval from the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the final major step in the federal review process for a project that, when completed, will be the first commercial scale offshore wind farm in the U.S..

“Today’s (decision) is not about the start of a single project, but the launch of a new industry,” Vineyard Wind CEO Lars T. Pedersen said in a press release. “Receiving this final major federal approval means the jobs, economic benefits and clean energy revolution associated with the Vineyard Wind 1 project can finally come to fruition. It’s been a long road to get to this point, but ultimately, we are reaching the end of this process with the strongest possible project.”

Vineyard Wind 1 is an 800 MW project located 15 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard The project design includes the world’s most powerful wind turbine, the GE Haliade-X, with a capacity of 13 megawatts (MW). The larger turbine capacity has allowed the project to reduce the total number of turbines from 108 to 62 while still delivering a total capacity of 800 MW to Massachusetts ratepayers. The turbine layout, which features consistent spacing of one nautical mile between turbines, was endorsed by the United States Coast Guard for transit, fishing and navigational safety. Vineyard Wind will reach financial close in the second half of 2021 and begin delivering clean energy to Massachusetts in 2023.

Southwire has previously been named a key supplier for the project. Southwire will manufacture more than 32 miles of high voltage cable at its facility in Huntersville, North Carolina. The company’s high-voltage field services team, working with local laborers, will install the cable with a projected onshore site completion by the first quarter of 2023.

Vineyard Wind LLC is a joint venture between Avangrid Renewables, a subsidiary of Avangrid, Inc. and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP). Since 2017, the Vineyard Wind 1 project has been through an unprecedented and exhaustive public review process that generated more than 30,000 public comments, more than 90% of which supported the project, the release said. The Construction and Operations Plan (COP) was reviewed by more than two dozen federal, state, and local agencies over the course of more than three and a half years.

The announcement of the federal approval was lauded by the participating suppliers as well as Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, U.S. Senators Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren, Congressman Bill Keating, Massachusetts Senate President Karen E. Spilka, Speaker of the House Ronald J. Mariano, State Representative Patricia Haddad, New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell and Frank Callahan of the Massachusetts Building Trades.

The release noted that. since 2017, the Vineyard Wind 1 project has been through an unprecedented and exhaustive public review process that generated more than 30,000 public comments, more than 90% of which supported the project. The Construction and Operations Plan (COP) was reviewed by more than two dozen federal, state, and local agencies over the course of more than three and a half years.