September 10, 2019 — Construction of the country’s first commercial scale offshore wind farm off Massachusetts’ coast will be delayed until at least next year while the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management determines the cumulative effect of construction of multiple wind farms in the region, the agency said in a recent update.
Vineyard Wind, a joint venture of Copenhagen Investment Partners and Avengrid Renewables, is developing the 800-MW, $2.8 billion project. Five other offshore wind projects are planned adjacent to the site.
The developers had expected to begin construction before the end of the year to take advantage of a significant federal tax credit for renewable energy that expires on Dec. 31.
BOEM’s original timeline was to release a final environmental impact statement in July, but that timeline was delayed when BOEM said stakeholders and cooperating federal agencies requested “a more robust cumulative analysis.” It anticipates completing the supplement to its draft EIS “late this year or early next year,” with a public comment period and public meetings to follow.