Avangrid Secures Final Federal Approval for Construction of Two Offshore Wind Projects

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on July 1 issued its final approval for the construction and operation of Avangrid’s New England Wind 1 and 2 projects. The two projects would have a total capacity of 2.6 gigawatts (GW) and have the potential to power over 900,000 households every year. The approval follows the bureau’s favorable Record of Decision issued for the projects in April.

New England Wind is located on a lease area close to Martha’s Vineyard in Dukes County, Massachusetts. The single site was split into two sites, New England Wind 1 and New England Wind 2, in May 2024. The sites are around 20 nautical miles southward of Martha’s Vineyard and around and about 24 nautical miles southwestward of Nantucket. The construction plan consists of 129 wind turbine generators to convert wind energy to electricity and five offshore substations to stabilize the electric power. The plan also covers five offshore export cables to transmit the power from the offshore substations to onshore sites in the Counties of Barnstable and Bristol.

Before issuing its final approval, the bureau consulted multiple communities and organizations to minimize negative environmental and social impacts of the offshore wind projects. Those consulted included state agencies, Tribes and other users of the maritime site such as fisheries. The approved construction and operation plan includes measures to mitigate any damage to marine life and the surrounding environment.

The two projects will help achieve the Biden administration’s goal of deploying 30 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030. The New England Wind offshore wind project is the eighth commercial-scale project to receive federal approval. This brings the total capacity of projects approved under the Biden administration to more than 10 GW, capable of powering nearly 4 million homes.