Offshore

Interior approves two wind farms offshore Massachusetts

Interior approves two wind farms offshore Massachusetts
(Photo Credit: steve docwra/Bigstock.com)

The Interior Department announced its approval of the New England Wind offshore wind project – the nation’s eighth approval of a commercial-scale, offshore wind energy project since President Biden took office.

With the approval, the Department of the Interior has approved more than 10 GW of clean energy from offshore wind projects.

The New England Wind lease area (Credit: BOEM)

The New England Wind project is expected to generate up to 2,600 MW of electricity. The project is situated approximately 20 nautical miles (nm) south of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, and about 24 nm southwest of Nantucket, Massachusetts. Park City Wind proposed a two-phased project plan comprising up to 129 wind turbine generators, with up to five offshore export cables transmitting electricity to onshore transmission systems in the Town of Barnstable and Bristol County, Massachusetts. 

On Feb. 26, 2024, BOEM announced the final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed New England Wind project, which analyzes the potential environmental impacts of the activities outlined in the project’s construction and operations plan and considers reasonable alternatives. During a 60-day public comment period, BOEM hosted three virtual public meetings to gather feedback on the Draft EIS from Tribal Nations, members of the public, commercial fishing interests, and other ocean stakeholders. 

The “Notice of Availability of a Joint Record of Decision for the New England Wind Project and the New England Wind Offshore Export Cable Project” will be published in the Federal Register in the coming days. For further information on the New England Wind project, please visit BOEM’s website. 

After facing uncertainty in 2023 over inflation, supply chain concerns, and other economic factors, the U.S. offshore wind market seems to be mounting a comeback. In just the past month, the Biden administration greenlit the seventh large offshore wind project in the United States, 924-MW Sunrise Wind. The Department of the Interior announced its proposal for a second offshore wind energy auction in the Gulf of Mexico, which includes four areas offshore Louisiana and Texas, totaling 410,060 acres; New York’s Empire Wind 1 offshore project received a key federal approval; and South Fork Wind became the first completed utility-scale offshore wind farm in the United States.

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