Updated
Construction of wind projects off the coast of the Vineyard is starting to ramp up.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) approved construction and operations plans for two major offshore wind projects recently: Ørsted’s Sunrise Wind received permission in late June, with Avangrid’s New England Wind receiving approvals this week.
Eighty-four turbines are planned for Sunrise Wind, with a capacity of producing 924 megawatts. The project could power more than 320,000 homes, according to the federal energy agency. It’s located around 18 miles southwest of Martha’s Vineyard, and will be providing power to New York.
According to Ørsted, offshore wind construction will “ramp up” later this year, and Sunrise Wind is expected to be fully operational by 2026.
Meanwhile, the federal approval for New England Wind — consisting of two projects called New England Wind 1 and New England Wind 2 — is expected to have a total power capacity of 2,600 megawatts of energy, and could power more than 900,000 homes annually, according to the federal energy agency.
The first part of the New England Wind project is expected to produce 791 megawatts, and construction is slated to start in 2025, Avangrid spokesperson Craig Gilvarg said. The wind farm is expected to start delivering power by 2029. Avangrid is still working through state and local permitting for the second half of the project, Gilvarg said.
New England Wind is located a little over 20 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard.
The plans for the two projects consist of up to 129 wind turbines, up to five electric service platforms, and up to five offshore export cables that would make landfall in Barnstable and Bristol County.
With federal approvals in hand for Sunrise and New England Wind projects, work is already underway for other wind farms even closer to the Vineyard. Revolution Wind, a 704-megawatt Ørsted offshore wind project just 12 miles from Aquinnah, kicked off construction in May, and completed the installation of its first turbine foundation. The wind farm will provide power to Connecticut and Rhode Island. Revolution Wind will consist of 65 wind turbines and two offshore substations. The U.S. Department of the Interior stated the offshore wind farm will be able to power more than 250,000 homes in Rhode Island and Connecticut.
Avangrid announced on June 25 that Vineyard Wind 1 — 15 miles south of the Island — now has a total of 10 offshore wind turbines in operation, delivering 136 megawatts of power to the New England grid. Avangrid states this is enough to power more than 60,000 homes in Massachusetts. Sixty-two turbines are planned for the project, which could generate 806 megawatts of power, which the Interior Department has said would be enough to power 400,000 homes and businesses.
While 10 turbines are up and delivering power, Avangrid states they’ve so far installed 21 turbines, and set up 47 foundations.
