April 18, 2024 — As offshore wind turbines undergo construction in waters south of the Vineyard, and with some already standing and delivering power, the debates on the Island regarding the industry continue.
And amid the conversations over a necessity for clean energy, and whether the projects are a blow to the Vineyard’s natural charm — coupled with a mix of online misinformation campaigns against the offshore wind industry — one subject has remained submerged: undersea cables.
While cables — which connect wind farms to the New England power grid on the mainland — aren’t the flashiest parts of an offshore wind farm operation, some are nervous about what may lie ahead with them.
John Keene, president of the Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen’s Preservation Trust, told the Times that some in the fishing industry are nervous about how the electromagnetic field from the cables can affect marine life.
Keene said the concern is that the fields emitted from cables could act like a fence, particularly for migratory species, and impact the behavior of marine species.
“There’s a lot of unknowns,” he said.