Vineyard Wind’s $2.8 Billion Offshore Project Faces New Delay After Federal Regulators Revise Permitting Timeline

Vineyard Wind LLC no longer expects its 800-megawatt offshore project to begin commercial operation in 2022, according to a Feb. 11 announcement, after the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management updated the permitting schedule for the project. The revised schedule indicates that the final environmental review will be issued on Nov. 13, later than what was previously anticipated. Last August, the bureau announced plans to undertake a supplemental environmental review to understand the cumulative impacts of multiple projects proposed in the Northeast. The project, jointly owned by Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, would be the first large-scale offshore wind development in the U.S.

In April 2019, the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities authorized power purchase agreements between Vineyard Wind LLC and the state’s electric distribution companies Unitil Corp., National Grid plc, and Eversource Energy for a period of 20 years. The developer initially planned begin construction last year, taking advantage of the federal tax credit that has been a key factor in offering a competitive price.

The project was selected in 2018 to negotiate contracts with Massachusetts’ electric utilities, in accordance with legislation enacted in 2016 that requires competitive solicitations to secure long-term contracts for 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind by June 30, 2027. The project would be located in the waters south of Martha’s Vineyard.

The new timeline aims to issue a final decision on Dec. 18, more than a year later compared to the original schedule’s August 2019 date.