Avangrid, American subsidiary of Spanish giant Iberdrola, confirmed its intentions to resubmit the construction plan for the long delayed offshore wind project, Vineyard Wind. Joe Biden’s entering administration would help the project go ahead finally, after the Trump administration halted the company’s efforts.
Avangrid’s CEO Dennis Arriola said during an interview, and quoted by Reuters, that Vineyard Wind would resume formalities with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management “very very soon”, to finally acquire the federal permit for the project’s construction.
Although any specific date were not commented, Arriola underlined that “the pause button is going to come off and we’re going to continue right where we were,” he said.
As we reported previously, on December 1 Vineyard Wind was declared on hold until January 15, after a federal decision delayed its permits. The project is set to be U.S’s first utility-scale offshore wind farm.
Federal permit for it was expected since December 18, 2020, nevertheless, BOEM updated the project’s timeline to January 2021. Now, with a new administration, Avangrid may finally get the greenlight.
Recommended for you: Avangrid to start New England Clean Energy Connect project
Vineyard Wind may go on soon
The original plan from Vineyard Wind was to start onshore construction in 2019, then put the first turbine in the seabed in 2021, and finally to have the 84-turbine wind farm installed by 2022; still as of now, the project is more than a year behind schedule.
Vineyard Wind is a joint venture between Avangrid, and Denmark’s Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. Once built, is expected to be at 15 miles off the coasts of Martha’s Vineyard, in Massachusetts.
With an 800 megawatt potency, Vineyard Wind will provide enough power for 400,000 homes and businesses of the state. In early December, 2020, the company announced it had partnered with GE for the procurement of Haliade X turbines for the farm, which was celebrated by the industry.
As of now, and according to federal data, only three permits are in the status of completed. The overall project’s timetable reads as “cancelled”. Still, the company is well under communication with Biden’s BOEM, which “looking forward to receive new information,” Arriola concluded.
