Offshore

First five turbines installed at Vineyard Wind 1

First five turbines installed at Vineyard Wind 1
GE Haliade-X Turbines Stand in the Vineyard Wind 1 Project Area South of Martha’s Vineyard. (Photo Credit: Worldview Films)

Premier U.S. commercial offshore wind project still on track to deliver power by the end of the year

Avangrid announced that it has installed the first five GE Haliade-X turbines at its Vineyard Wind 1 project, the first commercial offshore wind project in the United States.

Avangrid is calling this a critical milestone, as the wind farm prepares to deliver its first power to the electric grid in Massachusetts. The installation remains on track to accomplish that before the end of the year, per the company.

Once energized in the coming weeks, Vineyard Wind 1 will deliver approximately 65 MW of clean energy from the five installed turbines. That power will interconnect to the New England grid in Barnstable, transmitted by underground cables that connect to a substation further inland on Cape Cod. The wind farm is planned to expand into a 62-turbine, 806-MW project when fully operational, generating enough electricity to power an estimated 400,000 homes and businesses.

Before the project goes online, Avangrid says it must complete several critical tests and technical milestones, including final testing of the array and export cables, and energization of the offshore substation.

Vineyard Wind 1 is located 15 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard and is set to be the first operational commercial-scale offshore wind project in the United States. It began offshore construction in late 2022, achieved steel-in-the-water in June, and completed the nation’s first offshore substation in July. The first turbine was installed at Vineyard Wind 1 in October.

In October, Vineyard Wind 1’s owners announced they had closed a first-of-its-kind tax equity package for commercial-scale offshore wind with three U.S.-based banks. The $1.2 billion investment transaction was reached with J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo, making it the largest single asset tax equity financing and the first for a commercial-scale offshore wind project, according to a release. The investment was announced by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), a green energy investor, and Avangrid. Each owns 50% of the project.