Updated Feb. 25
As the shadow of uncertainty continues to loom over the offshore wind industry, one company recently axed 50 positions from its payroll.
Vineyard Offshore, an offshore wind company founded by the same team that established Vineyard Wind, recently laid off 50 positions in the United States and Europe. According to a Vineyard Offshore spokesperson, the eliminated positions included unfilled roles, contractors, and staff.
The spokesperson did not say whether any of the laid off Vineyard Offshore employees were from Martha’s Vineyard or any other parts of southeastern Massachusetts, though noting that staff at Vineyard Wind would not be impacted.
“Vineyard Offshore believes that offshore wind is a vital part of the nation’s future energy independence,” a company statement reads. “Our projects will provide over 6 gigawatts of reliable and affordable energy to meet growing energy needs on the east and west coasts, while creating thousands of jobs and fueling economic growth. In an effort to position our projects for sustainable long-term success we have made the difficult decision to reduce our current team size in light of recent market uncertainties. We look forward to continuing to advance these transformative American energy projects in the years ahead.”
Vineyard Offshore is a part of developing several projects funded by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, who own half of Vineyard Wind with Avangrid, and a major project they are trying to push forward is the Vineyard Wind 2 project, formerly called Vineyard Northeast. Vineyard Wind 2 was planned to be a 1,200 megawatt project — enough to power around 650,000 homes — although Vineyard Offshore needed to pull back the project in December after a power-purchasing deal with Massachusetts and Connecticut fell through.
The project faces further roadblocks with the Trump Administration promising to halt projects that haven’t finalized permitting.
Vineyard Offshore is also involved with Excelsior Wind located south of Long Island, N.Y., and an unnamed project off of California’s coast.
Vineyard Wind 1, located 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard, began delivering power last year, though production stalled after a blade with the project shattered. Officials say that Vineyard Wind 1 hasn’t been impacted by the layoffs
“The Vineyard Wind project, including its staff and contractors, remains unaffected by Vineyard Offshore’s changes. Its shareholders are fully committed to ensuring the project’s successful completion,” a Vineyard Offshore spokesperson stated.
Vineyard Wind officials have previously said that Vineyard Wind 1 is expected to create around 90 on-Island jobs during the operations and maintenance phase of the project, with half of the positions being filled by people living on the Island full-time. Hiring was underway last year, although it is currently uncertain how many Islanders are a part of the Vineyard Wind workforce.
Vineyard Wind 1, an 806-megawatt offshore wind project planned to consist of 62 turbines, is expected to power more than 400,000 homes and businesses in Massachusetts. A map provided by the company shows that all 62 of turbine foundations have been installed and 24 turbines have been fully built as of Feb. 18.
But according to the Nantucket select board, Vineyard Wind is still removing blades at the lease site under orders from the federal government. The order came in response after a blade fractured in July. Every blade built at a Canadian factory would have to be removed and replaced.
Nantucket select board chair Brooke Mohr told the board on Wednesday last week that the order requires blade sets from 22 turbine towers be removed and replaced. After talking with Vineyard Wind officials on Wednesday afternoon before the meeting, Mohr said that so far only four sets of blades have been removed.
She expected the blade removal operation to quicken as the developers are expected to have a new vessel that will be able to transport five blades at once, although Mohr said she was provided no concrete details.
Vineyard Offshore’s layoff followed continued turbulence for the offshore wind industry. Last month, in an effort to upend the offshore wind industry, President Donald Trump issued an executive order halting the approval of new permits at new lease areas for offshore wind. The order also provided a path to potentially terminate other projects, including Vineyard Wind. Additionally, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Director Elizabeth Klein, whose agency approved numerous offshore wind projects under the the Biden Administration, recently left her role.
“Elizabeth Klein served as a political appointee under the Biden administration and left on Jan. 20, 2025,” Tracey Moriarty, BOEM spokesperson, told the Times. “Dr. Walter Cruickshank, BOEM’s deputy director, is serving as the acting director for BOEM until the Trump administration has appointed a new director.”
Even before the Trump administration aimed its scope at the offshore wind industry, there have been issues for offshore wind in recent years.
Ørsted — which is developing a number of projects near the Island — slashed around 800 jobs in a mass layoff last February as part of an effort to shore up financial losses, particularly from challenges related to its U.S. offshore wind portfolio. GE Vernova, the contractor building the Vineyard Wind 1 project, announced plans last September to cut as many as 900 jobs following turbine blades fracturing at the Vineyard Wind 1 project and the Dogger Bank A project in the United Kingdom.
It is uncertain whether other companies owning offshore wind projects have also or plan to cut staff like Vineyard Offshore. Multiple companies own offshore wind lease areas in a cluster south of Martha’s Vineyard that are collectively hundreds of thousands of square miles but have not made public statements on staffing issues recently.
“We don’t comment on personnel matters,” Meaghan Wims, an Ørsted spokesperson, said.
Ørsted, the Danish multinational energy company, owns several projects south of Martha’s Vineyard, including Sunrise Wind and Revolution Wind under construction off the coast of Aquinnah. Last year, they completed constructing South Fork Wind, an offshore wind farm located roughly 20 miles southwest of Martha’s Vineyard supplying around 130 megawatts of electricity — equivalent to around 70,000 homes — to Long Island, N.Y., 35 miles away.
While it is uncertain whether any jobs will be cut at the giant energy company this year, Ørsted is facing financial difficulties. The company announced early this month it will slash its 2030 investments program by 25 percent and is reassessing its “capital allocation” while focusing on current projects rather than launching new initiatives.
Representatives from Ocean Winds, which owns SouthCoast Wind, and BP, which owns Beacon Wind, did not respond to a request for comment.
SouthCoast Wind received federal approval in December but did not begin construction. Beacon Wind has not completed its permitting process.
Updated with information from the Nantucket select board and a statement from BOEM.
How many native born Islanders will lose their 120k a year jobs?
Offshore wind projects have been halted. Subsidies will stop. Many projects in the Northeast have been canceled, Beacon Wind in New York, Ocean Wind 1 and 2 in New Jersey, South Coast Wind and New England Wing 1 and 2. BP and Orsted are failing wind companies.
Wind projects on Federal land are stalled. Wind projects on private land are subject to many obstacles that will take from 5 to 10 years to overcome before they are financed and started.
The US demand for energy is increasing far beyond renewables ability to grow.
Coal, natural gas, oil and nuclear must be redeployed and developed to sustain our growth and protect our country.
Roy, nuclear is not an option. How can we possibly guarantee that we can protect the nuclear waste for 10,000 years?
Putin just sent missiles to the Chernobyl holding facility.
Mary, Adaptation is our key to growth and prosperity. American requires energy from multiple sources to secure our future. People change, companies change and so will America. Please click this link to read or view on YouTube.
https://substack-post-media.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/post-files/156729385/0f0311c2-377
Roy, we need solar on every roof. We need windmill farms. The fossil fuel barons want to use propaganda to convince you that nuclear is good because they are now converting old coal power plants into nuclear power plants. Two reasons: they want to turn the old buildings into something new that will make a ton of money, regardless of how many people who live nearby get cancer, regardless of whether it becomes a missile target for foreign adversaries (the oil barons won’t be living nearby, we can count on that!). Several days ago Putin sent missiles into the Chernobyl power plant (where the old nuclear fuel is stored) trying to cause another nuclear disaster.
The second reason is that they owners of coal plants want to keep us connected to the grid so we have a subscription payment every month. They have us over a barrel and every time they add new fees or raise rates, there’s nothing we can do about it.
I encourage everyone who reads this to throw off the bondage and buy your own solar panels for your own roof. And support the big windmills for the instances where the grid is truly needed.
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