On Wednesday the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final Clean Air Act air quality permit to the Vineyard Wind 1 offshore wind farm project.
“The permit includes air pollution control requirements for the construction and operation of the 800-MW wind farm. By issuing this permit, construction can now begin on the nation’s first major offshore wind project, which will be in federal waters off the coast of Massachusetts,” a release states. “The permit regulates pollutants from ‘Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) sources,’ such as jack-up barges that will construct each wind turbine and the electrical service platforms. Additionally, emissions associated with air-emitting devices used during the operation of the wind farm, i.e., generators used as a source of backup electricity for space conditioning where sensitive electronics are housed, are also regulated.”
EPA New England Acting Regional Administrator Deb Szaro described the permit as part of a larger campaign by the Biden administration to advance offshore wind.
“The innovative Clean Air Act permit issued for the Vineyard Wind project will ensure that the vessels working to construct the wind farm operate with the best available technology to reduce emissions of air pollution during the construction and ongoing operation of the wind farm,” Szaro said through a release. “The Biden administration has called on the nation to build a clean energy economy and expand opportunities for development of an American offshore wind industry. EPA New England is proud to play a role helping to accomplish this goal.”
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), a component of the U.S. Department of the Interior, gave the greenlight to the Vineyard Wind 1 offshore wind farm May 11, a decision that allows mobilization and construction processes to begin.
Vineyard Wind 1, which will be 15 miles off the Vineyard, will feature 62 GE Haliade-X turbines, and is anticipated to have an overall cost of approximately $2 billion. The turbines are expected to produce 800 megawatts of electricity. That electricity will be sent through two export cables buried under the Atlantic. The cables will pass through the Muskeget Channel, roughly a mile off Chappaquiddick, and pass through Nantucket Sound to landfall in Barnstable. There the cables will send electricity into the grid. Edgartown’s conservation commission clashed with Vineyard Wind over the cables, but eventually reached a settlement.
The EPA says it held Vineyard Wind 1 to strict standards in evaluating the permit. “Consistent with Clean Air Act requirements for Outer Continental Shelf sources, to-and-from vessel emissions were considered to be direct emissions from the source,” a release states. “When considering these vessel emissions, as well as emissions associated with construction, operation, and maintenance-related activities, the permit requires stringent ‘lowest achievable emissions rates’ for oxides of nitrogen and volatile organic compounds, as well as ‘best available control technologies’ for particulate matter, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, oxides of nitrogen, and greenhouse gases. Additionally, the permit requires emission offsets for oxides of nitrogen and volatile organic compounds.”
I wonder why the line doesn’t branch off and make landfall in Chappaquiddick and Nantucket ?
Because the Chappaquiddick and Nantucket loads are not big enough to justify putting in the necessary substations/transformers. That necessary infrastructure to power the islands is already in place.
The project is supposed to be able to power 400,000 homes, hardly worth a stop on Chappaquiddick.
The existing cables from the the mainland to the islands are not big enough to handle the output of the wind farm.
Albert- Thank you for that explanation
I do know a bit about electricity, and I know ,for instance, that the “green” power that I pay for is through the magic of accounting. Electrons do not pass each other and get sorted out at my panel.
I will be honest, and admit that I was trolling the NIMBY Chappy resident who thinks Chappy is going to be ruined because an electrical cable will pass within a mile or so of her beloved island. Imagine the uproar of they were actually going to put a sub station there..
One thing I have always been amazed at though is a common argument used by the opponents of any kind of power generation plant, That being that “the electricity is going to some other state”.
When they tried to close Maine Yankee, the Mainers claimed the power was going to NH.. In 1980 ( I think) Maine voted to keep Maine Yankee open, but on the same ballot voted to never allow any nuclear waste to be stored in Maine..
When they wanted to close Pilgrim, it was because all the power was going to NH.
NH seems to really make out on this stuff.
As much as I’d love to see it wired straight to MV and Nantucket, the reality is that it needs to plug in to a part of the grid that’s meant to accept input from power plants. The islands are set up to receive power, not to generate and send it. The wires aren’t big enough, the transformers aren’t the right ratios and capacities, et cetera.
Chappy least of all. By the time they were done stringing up wires big enough to do the job, Litchfield and/or Chappaquiddick Road would look like Storrow Drive.
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