Vineyard Wind Up and Running

The first large-scale offshore wind farm in the United States came on line this January 2024. One turbine sends five megawatts of electricity to the New England grid. Now the owners say another four turbines are up and running off the Massachusetts coast. These turbines are sending 68 megawatts of electricity to the grid, enough to power 30,000 homes. Nine turbines have been installed so far, and a 10th is on the way. Once completed this project with consist of 62 turbines capable of powering 400,000 homes and businesses.

Gov, Maura Healey said, “After many decades of advocacy, research, policymaking, and finally construction, America’s offshore wind industry has gone from a dream to a reality.” The Vineyard Wind project is located about 15 miles off of Martha’s Vineyard. The Vineyard Wind project—and another smaller project off of Long Island—stand out as success stories in an industry that has seen a lot of uncertainty and upheaval over the last year. Massachusetts Energy and Environmental Affairs secretary, Rebecca Tepper says, “It’s not easy to stand up a new industry, but we will continue to forge ahead and keep growing the industry.

Vineyard Wind is expected to create over 3,000 jobs, save customers $1.4 billion in utility bills and prevent 1.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere every year. (This is equivalent to getting 325,000 cars off the road each year).