Updated March 18
An offshore wind farm that seems to evoke either pride or ire in the hearts of Islanders announced that construction was completed on Friday, more than a decade after the area was leased to the project’s developers. The fully installed 62-turbine Vineyard Wind 1 project, despite various impediments from forces as high up as the federal government, is officially a complete fixture on the Island’s horizon.
The decade-long saga has had setbacks, from a blade that broke off one turbine located at the southernmost tip of the lease area and littered debris on the Cape and Islands to a stop-work order by the current federal administration that paused work for a month, but the project, 15 miles south of the Vineyard, announced that the final blades were installed late last week. There are a total of 186 blades on 62 turbines driven into the seabed, each a nautical mile apart.
“On Friday evening, with the installation of the final blades, Vineyard Wind completed its offshore construction program. Vineyard Wind continues to deliver power to the New England grid,” Craig Gilvarg, spokesperson for the project, said. The offshore wind farm started to incrementally deliver power from completed turbines more than two years ago, in January 2024.
The completion of construction was welcomed by Massachusetts politicians, who tout the renewable energy project as an environmentally sustainable means to contain energy costs.
“We are thrilled construction on the Vineyard Wind project is complete. The affordable, homegrown power it delivers to Massachusetts residents and businesses will bring costs down as President Trump throws global markets into disarray,” Gov. Maura Healey said in a statement. “This project has been vital this winter, lowering electricity costs and powering our homes through cold weather. My administration is committed to seeing this project over the finish line to save Massachusetts families and businesses $1.4 billion.”
However, many New Englanders express frustration that no tangible return on the investment has been seen by ratepayers yet. That is in part because the project still hasn’t reached full commercial operation, when a fixed price for the energy will be used; some turbines still need to be commissioned, which is the final step in the installation process, and ensures each turbine works properly. Post-commercial operation is also when Islanders may see the benefits promised in an agreement made between the project and an Island nonprofit 11 years ago.
Still, completion of the “construction program” for this project is a long-awaited achievement. In fact, more than a decade ago, in January 2015, developers were awarded the 166,886-acre lease in a public auction by the Department of the Interior, which is responsible for management of the U.S.’s natural resources and cultural heritage. It wasn’t until 2023 that offshore installations of turbines began, after eight years of state, local, and federal permitting, a bid process in which Massachusetts officials selected the project to deliver energy for ratepayers, and more than one iteration of the project was planned and submitted for review by federal departments; offshore cable installation began the year prior.
But the idea for an offshore wind project south of the Island began to gather force more than a decade ago. In response to the controversial Cape Wind project, a 130-turbine farm proposed off Nantucket that met fierce backlash and never came to fruition, a group of Vineyarders inspired by the promises of renewable energy dreamed of a small-scale — about 17 turbines — offshore wind farm owned by residents. In 2009, the nonprofit cooperative Vineyard Power, which has offices on Beach Road in Vineyard Haven, was created, and spearheaded the idea of a farm constructed to meet only the Island’s energy needs. But that goal, derailed by a lack of a domestic supply chain and federal regulations in the early 2000s, was thwarted, and the nonprofit instead decided to partner with a larger developer called OffshoreMW (financially backed by the investment management company Blackstone). The dream “evolved from owning and operating a wind farm to partnering with an offshore wind developer to contractually secure the attributes and benefits of ownership through community benefits agreements,” a webpage on the nonprofit’s history reads.
OffshoreMW was acquired by Denmark-based investment firm Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) from Blackstone in 2016, and by then, the project was much larger than the small-scale dream. The project is jointly owned by Avangrid, a subsidiary of the Spain-based renewable energy company Iberdrola, which has some 45,000 employees, and CIP. Avangrid serves more than 3 million customers throughout New England and New York.
But throughout the history of the project, developers experienced several delays, especially after an enormous blade, roughly the length of a football field, broke off turbine AW38 in July 2024 and debris washed ashore across New England, especially on Nantucket. The project was halted for months, and an investigation by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement has yet to conclude. However, on their own, Nantucket officials sued the manufacturer, GE Vernova, and received a settlement of $10.5 million; they also demanded further accountability from the project’s developers, which resulted in a reformed agreement for the island. Vineyard Wind and town officials on Martha’s Vineyard plan to meet to discuss similar actions, but a date hasn’t been set yet.
The end of construction on this project comes at a critical time for developers. A suspension, based on publicly undisclosed national security concerns identified in classified reports, was issued for the project by the Trump administration just before Christmas. It paused work for more than a month, and there were concerns that the project was in jeopardy. Developers took the federal government to court, claimed irreparable harm, and said that the project risked foreclosure and the loss of a specialized jack-up vessel, the contract for which ends March 31. A federal judge granted the project temporary relief, and construction resumed, though litigation continues in the background.
And as the project moves closer to an official commercial operation date (COD), which is when a resource generates electricity for sale, some of the promises made by the project’s developer may come through. When Vineyard Power aligned with OffshoreMW, a community benefits agreement was signed, on Jan. 15, 2015. It was the country’s first for the offshore wind industry, and gave the project a 10 percent discount on the lease. The agreement, which wasn’t made publicly available until this summer, lays out benefits for Martha’s Vineyard, such as energy savings for low-income ratepayers, investments in solar and battery-storage projects on-Island, and modernization of the Tisbury working waterfront, all in exchange for support of the project. Though local jobs were always heralded as an advantage of the project, what the details of agreement clarified was that 100 percent of the operations and maintenance facility’s staff should be sourced from the Island within five years of commercial operation.
Installments from a fund created through the agreement that total $7.5 million and can be used for on-Island solar and battery projects and resiliency redesigns or infrastructure energy projects will also start to come over after commercial operation is reached. Richard Andre, president and director of Vineyard Power, declined to comment for this article.
The power purchase agreement, a contract signed by Massachusetts electricity distribution companies and Vineyard Wind, that provides a stable price for energy also isn’t available until the project reaches COD. That is when Nathaniel Haviland-Markowitz, assistant attorney general for Massachusetts, said, in a hearing about the Trump administration’s stop-work order, ratepayers could see lower prices.
On the heels of Vineyard Wind, officials at Revolution Wind also announced that the 65-turbine project has started to send power to the grid as construction wraps up.
The offshore wind project, jointly owned by Global Infrastructure Partners’ Skyborn Renewables and Ørsted, said Friday that power began to be delivered to the grid. It is more than 90 percent complete, and “several key construction scopes” are done, Ørsted’s construction updates webpage said.
Progress of the Revolution Wind project also bounced forward and backward in stops and starts for the better part of the last year. Developers were issued a stop-work order two separate times, once in August and, as with Vineyard Wind, once in December, by the federal government. A federal judge in the District Court for D.C. allowed work in both instances to continue as the court cases move forward.
The project, though visible off the coast of the Island, 12 miles southwest of Aquinnah, holds agreements with energy utilities in Rhode Island and Connecticut, not Massachusetts. The power generated travels by way of Narragansett Bay through an offshore cable that comes ashore at Quonset Business Park in North Kingstown, R.I. Onshore, the power travels to a substation connected to the grid.
Finally, some good news about energy in this country– Congratulations to the hard working people who didn’t bend the knee to a wanna be king and many levels of misinformation. By the way, at 22:44 March 15, wind is providing 10 % of the power for the grid, at the same price it was last month.
Don, the ISO New England grid numbers change minute by minute. A snapshot showing wind at 10% at a particular moment doesn’t mean wind provides 10% of New England’s electricity overall.
According to ISO New England’s own data, wind produced about 4% of the region’s electricity in 2025. The real-time charts you’re referring to show instantaneous output that changes every few minutes depending on wind conditions and demand. Citing a single moment late at night when wind happened to be 10% of the grid doesn’t tell us much about its overall contribution.
It’s also worth remembering that Vineyard Wind itself was temporarily halted by the federal government last winter over national security concerns before a judge allowed work to resume, and the legal case reviewing those issues is still ongoing.
The question many Islanders are asking isn’t whether wind can generate electricity. It’s whether turning the waters south of Martha’s Vineyard into a large industrial turbine field is a trade-off this community should simply be expected to accept.
Vineyard Wind is now being presented as a success story. But for many Islanders, completion of this project raises serious questions about what we are trading away in the waters south of Martha’s Vineyard.
The article highlights that Vineyard Wind can generate enough electricity to power more than 400,000 homes and suggests the project will help lower costs. Those are big promises. Islanders will judge those claims by what they see on their electric bills.
When I stand at South Beach and look out across the Atlantic, I can see turbines rising from the water south of Martha’s Vineyard. What was once an open Atlantic horizon now clearly shows an industrial intrusion.
The impacts are not limited to what we see above the water. Each turbine requires massive foundations driven into the seafloor, along with miles of buried transmission cables, disturbing marine habitat that has supported fish, shellfish, and commercial fisheries in these waters.
If Vineyard Wind becomes the template, pressure will grow to expand more industrial projects across the same waters south of the Vineyard.
The open Atlantic south of Martha’s Vineyard was never meant to become an industrial turbine field. A real tragedy for the Vineyard. Indeed.
Murray– You have some good points ,but I question your “never meant to be” assertion. What was it meant to be , and who meant it to be that way.? Was it meant to be fishing grounds where the fisheries decimate populations of indigenous fish mollusks and marine mammals ? A place where large ships collide with whales and create a loud environment ? “Massive foundations ? You know better– And how about the land ? Were the Cape and islands meant to have tens of thousands of houses, thousands of miles of roads and power lines ? How many species of wildlife have been driven off the land or driven to extinction in what that was their home for millennia ? Was that meant to be ? Your phrase carries a lot of weight. If this land we dwell on was meant to have millions of sapiens roaming around and destroying whatever was here, then the ocean was meant to have windmills.
As for the price of electricity, it won’t make much of a difference — you and I both know about basic math– But it will make a difference — if ever so slightly– on our air quality and the impacts of excessive carbon in our atmosphere.
Don, my point is not that people have never altered land or sea. It is that previous damage is not a license for more of it.
Arguing that the Cape and Islands already have houses, roads, and power lines does not somehow prove that the open waters south of Martha’s Vineyard should also be industrialized. “We have already spoiled other places” is not much of an argument.
And your 10 percent point is still misleading. A single late-night ISO New England snapshot is not the same as wind’s actual contribution over time. Grabbing one favorable moment and presenting it as the larger truth is advocacy, not analysis.
As for the promised savings, Vineyard Wind still has not fully reached commercial operation, so the public is once again being asked to celebrate first and measure later.
Cleaner energy matters. But that does not require people to ignore the obvious visual, industrial, and ecological tradeoffs imposed on these waters.
Support the project if you want. But spare us the sermon that anyone raising legitimate objections is somehow anti-progress. That is not an argument either. It is just a way to dodge the harder questions.
Murray– of course I know that wind only generates a small percentage of our power. My ISO snapshots are just a way presenting the fact that it is increasing .There is no one solution to fix it all. Every time one of those turbines completes a revolution, there is a reduction in the burning of x number of cubic ft of gas. I think that’s a good thing… I took issue with your “never meant to become” statement. Since we think we have the right to do whatever we want to the planet, do we just stop at windmills because you don’t like them ? I don’t think legitimate concerns are anti-progress. I doubt I have ever used that term in relation to the turbines. Yes, I am critical of frivolous, unfounded concerns or misinformation. But I also understand legitimate concerns– I have some myself– and try to address them in a rational and fact based manner.
What happens to Eversource? And Vineyard Winds, do we get a choice or duke it out?
I think that when all is said and done it will be a net positive
Vineyard Wind is a producer.
Eversource is a regulated reseller
Let your intuition be your guide. We’ve hardly been responsible stewards of the gifts that God gave us. Consider the plastic in our shellfish and seafood and insults to our environment. I was proud to become a member of Vineyard Power ( I signed on on my boat ) as I thought it might provide an shining, spinning example to the world going forward. We have an unquenchable need for electricity, indifferent to its costs, not just for us, but for our progeny going forward. This is the age of enlightenment redux.