The US government has given the final green light to the 806MW Vineyard Wind 1 project, which is now due to become the country’s first large-scale offshore wind farm.
Developers Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) can now begin constructing the project off Massachusetts, following more than three years of federal review and public consultation on the project’s environmental impact.
They plan to start construction later this year and deliver first power from the wind farm in 2023.
Vineyard Wind will be located 8km off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. It will feature up to 84 turbines.
GE Renewable Energy has been named as preferred supplier to provide its Haliade-X turbines for the project.
Vineyard Wind will count towards the US’ target of building 30GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030.
Heather Zichal, CEO of industry group the American Clean Power Association, said: “Now is the time to push forward on offshore wind, catch up to global competitors, and decarbonise our electric grid, so that the US can deliver economic and environmental benefits to citizens and combat climate change.”
CEO of the Business Network for Offshore Wind Liz Burdock added: “This approval should signal ‘go’ to all the supply chain companies that were waiting to see if the industry would move to commercial scale construction.”
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