The Department of the Interior has announced that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has completed the environmental analysis of the proposed Vineyard Wind I offshore wind project.
Later this week, BOEM will publish a Notice of Availability for the Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in the Federal Register, which analyses the potential environmental impacts of making a decision on Vineyard Wind’s Construction and Operation Plan. BOEM is working with the appropriate parties to finalise the process, consistent with the National Historic Preservation Act, and to issue a record of decision whether to approve, disapprove, or approve with modifications the proposed project.
The origins for the Vineyard Wind 1 Project date back to 2009, when the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and BOEM began a stakeholder process to identify offshore wind energy areas south of Martha’s Vineyard. Following that process, Vineyard Wind was awarded a lease area in a competitive auction held by BOEM in 2015, submitted its state and federal permit applications in 2017 and subsequently won the offshore wind contract in a competitive procurement in Massachusetts in 2018. The Vineyard Wind 1 project has already received all relevant permits required by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as well as regional and local bodies. Vineyard Wind is expected to reach financial close in the second half of 2021 and begin delivering clean energy to Massachusetts in 2023. Vineyard Wind is a joint venture between Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP).
