- The Vineyard Wind project will have a capacity of 800MW.
- GE’s Haliade-X wind turbines will power the wind farm
- The farm is expected to commence operations in 2023.
The 800MW offshore wind project in Massachusetts is set to commence construction as it has reached a financial close of $2.3 billion of senior debt financing. The Vineyard wind project is a joint venture between Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. It is the first financial close of a commercial-scale offshore wind project in the U.S. The wind farm is located 15 miles (24.14 Km) off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard and is expected to be connected to the grid by 2023.
Vineyard Wind CEO Lars T. Pedersen noted that reaching financial close is the most important of all milestones. It enables the company to move from talking about offshore wind to delivering offshore wind power. As a result, Vineyard Wind plans to issue ‘notice to proceed’ to its contractors in the coming days and weeks. Onshore work is expected to start this Autumn, while offshore work will commence next year.
When completed, the offshore wind farm will produce electricity for over 400,000 homes and businesses in Massachusetts and reduce carbon emissions by over 1.6 million tons per year. The wind farm will comprise GE’s Haliade-X wind turbine generators.