Two new wind farms will rise off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard soon, after officials from Massachusetts and Rhode Island announced new contracts to develop them. The larger of the two, called the Vineyard Wind project, could have as many as 100 turbines about 15 miles south of the island. The other project, called Deepwater Revolution Wind, will be a bit closer to shore, about 12 miles southwest of the Vineyard.
Vineyard Wind is a joint venture of Avangrid, a Connecticut-based utility, and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. Construction on the 800-megawatt project, the largest in any state, is scheduled to start next year with the first turbines connecting to the grid in 2021. Deepwater Wind, based in Providence, will build the 400-megawatt farm.
Vineyard Wind plans to run an underwater transmission line in the channel between Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, and then connect it to Cape Cod. Audra Parker, head of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, says that the line could make it easier to build a future wind farm there. Her group will take legal action to prevent that. Read more:
