BOEM Starting Environmental Review of 2.6 GW Wind Project Offshore Massachusetts

March 25, 2024, by Adnan Memija

The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has issued a Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIS) for the Construction and Operations Plan (COP) for Vineyard Northeast’s proposed offshore wind project, located offshore Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Vineyard Northeast — *Source: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management*

The publication of the NOI in the Federal Register opened a 45-day public comment period for the Vineyard Northeast EIS ending on 9 May.

BOEM proactively extended its standard 30-day comment period to 45 days to account for the Atlantic Shores North NOI 45-day public comment period announced earlier this month.

During the public comment period, BOEM will hold two virtual and two in-person public meetings. The COP was submitted by Vineyard Northeast, LLC.

Vineyard Offshore, the project team behind the first commercial-scale offshore wind project in the USA, is currently developing lease area OCS-A 0522, dubbed Vineyard Northeast.

The approximately 132,370-acre lease area, located 29 miles from Nantucket and approximately 39 miles offshore Martha’s Vineyard, is owned by an affiliate of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, who took full ownership of the area in 2022 from Avangrid Renewables, a subsidiary of Spain’s Iberdrola.

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BOEM estimates the proposed offshore wind project would generate up to 2,600 MW of electricity enough to power more than 900,000 homes with clean renewable energy.

Vineyard Northeast’s proposal includes the installation of up to 160 wind turbines, up to three electrical service platforms (ESPs), and one booster station in an adjacent lease area.

It also contains two offshore export cable corridors, one to Connecticut and one to Massachusetts, as well as associated onshore transmission systems.