SouthCoast Wind has achieved several significant milestones in the permitting process for its first offshore wind project. The Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB) of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts approved SouthCoast Wind’s request to construct and operate transmission facilities at Brayton Point in Somerset, MA.
Additionally, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection granted a Chapter 91 Waterways license for project-related nearshore equipment and work, and the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management approved the project’s Federal Consistency Review.
The offshore lease area for SouthCoast Wind is located in federal waters, 23 miles south of Nantucket. The proposed cable route will traverse federal and Massachusetts state waters, the Sakonnet River in Rhode Island, across a portion of Portsmouth, RI, and into Mt. Hope Bay. The permit also approves a cable route from Mt. Hope Bay, travelling up the Lee River and entering Brayton Point in Somerset, MA, near the planned converter station and electric grid connection.
These approvals keep the SouthCoast Wind 1 project on track to deliver clean offshore wind energy to the New England regional electric grid by 2030. SouthCoast Wind is developing an offshore lease area off the coast of Massachusetts with the potential to supply 2,400MW of clean energy to electricity customers in New England. The project is wholly owned by Ocean Winds (OW).
