Vineyard Wind
Vineyard Wind 1 is an offshore wind energy project located about south off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, United States. Vineyard Wind 1 features 62 fixed-bottom wind turbines, with a combined nameplate capacity of 804MW. At peak production, this provides energy equivalent of powering 400,000 homes. The turbines used are manufactured by GE Offshore Wind, each capable of generating up to 13MW. The $4 billion project, developed by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners in partnership with Iberdrola is leading the charge in offshore wind in the US, and aims to contribute substantially to Massachusetts renewable energy targets while reducing carbon emissions. The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities approved the project in 2019, and construction began in November 2021. Power from the first Turbine started flowing into the ISO New England grid in January 2024. The Onshore cable landing sites is an onshore substation in Hyannis village, positioned next to the existing Eversource substation.
, approximately 55 wind turbines have been installed and 30 are operational. Construction is expected to finish by the end of 2025. Construction was paused in late December 2025 due to a Trump administration order pause on all offshore wind leases to review "national security risks". A preliminary injunction in January 2026 allowed construction to resume while the lawsuit proceeds.
Project overview
The project is jointly owned by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Iberdrola, through a subsidiary of Avangrid Renewables. GE Offshore Wind is supplying the 62 turbines. Windar Renovables is building the foundations. Nexans Group & Prysmian Group is providing cabling.Two independent submarine power cables run from an offshore 220 kV transformer about 15 miles south of the southeast corner of Martha's Vineyard, to Covell's Beach in Centerville in Barnstable on Cape Cod about 34 miles away. They feed into the 115 kV grid at Barnstable Switching Station owned by Eversource.
The Port of New Bedford has been used as a staging area for the project. DEME is handling some construction and installation logistics. The vessels used must comply with the Jones Act, so feeder barges transport components from port to site. Salem Harbor has also been developed as an offshore wind port in conjunction with the project.
During construction a bubble curtain from Thayer Mahan, Inc. is being deployed.
A final environmental impact statement was released in March 2021. Approval was delayed during the term of U.S. president Donald Trump, due to concerns regarding fishing and safety. The permission was fast-tracked after Joe Biden took office. Final major federal approval was granted on May 11, 2021.
A total of $2.3 billion in project funding was secured in October 2021. The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance representing fishing interests filed a federal lawsuit several months later disputing the approval, and a group of Nantucket residents did so in January 2023. Solar competitor Allco Renewable Energy also filed suit. Construction proceeded despite the lawsuits.
Electricity from the first turbines began flowing on January 2, 2024, with the final turbines expected to be installed by the end 2024.
The developers have agreed to suspend construction during right whale activity in the area, and University of New Hampshire monitors their sounds. The project is expected to both reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce electricity costs for Massachusetts consumers. The wind farm has secured 20-year contracts to sell the power it produces for a fixed 20-year price of $0.09/kWh and has agreed to provide a total of $15 million for a fund to provide battery storage in low-income communities.
Six beaches on the island of Nantucket were closed after a wind-turbine blade from the offshore wind farm broke apart on July 13, 2024, sending fiberglass shards into the Atlantic Ocean and onto the nearby coast. GE Vernova said the cause of the blade failure was a manufacturing defect involving "insufficient bonding" and a failure of the factory's quality control to catch the issue. GE Vernova inspected more than 100 other blades, and removed blades from at least two turbines due to finding defects. The federal government ordered the project to stop producing power as a result of the incident, with wind turbine operation only restarting in January 2025. In July 2025, GE Vernova announced a $10.5 million dollar settlement with the town of Nantucket for costs associated with the incident.
In order to reduce nighttime visual impact, the red warning lights on the top of the towers are only turned on when radar detects an approaching aircraft. In September 2025, Nantucket residents complained this system was malfunctioning.
Development timeline
This timeline traces the development from the project from 2015 to 2025 when the operation of Vineyard Wind 1 is expected begin. It is organized in four distinct phases that the project must go through in order to be complete. The first phase is early development and planning, during which time the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management gauges interest in a new lease area, evaluates the environmental impacts that may be imposed on it by construction, and conducts an auction to select a developer for a new offshore wind project. During the second phase, environmental review and permitting, the developer must submit a plan for how they will build, operate, and decommission the project. In response to this, BOEM must conduct an environmental analysis to assess the impacts of the plan, and consider comments submitted from the public regarding the public. In the third phase, record of decision and approvals, BOEM along with other implicated agencies must consider the environmental analysis and make a final decision on whether or not to approve the project. If approved, the project moves to the final phase during which is the action construction and installation of the wind farm.| Early Development & Planning |
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| Environmental Review & Permitting | |
| Record of Decision & Approvals | |
| Construction & Installation |
Lease area
Location
Vineyard Wind 1 is located in federally controlled water on the Commercial Lease Outer Continental Shelf -A-0501, which is approximately 12 nautical miles off the coast of Martha's Vineyard and 12 nautical miles from Nantucket. The lease area comprises 166,886 acres, and only the Northern section will be occupied by Vineyard Wind 1 project.History of lease area
In 2009, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management initiated the renewable energy program, which provides a structure for regional planning and analysis, lease issuance, site assessment, and construction and operations. BOEM is required by the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to award offshore wind lease areas competitively, through a "Call for Information and Nominations" process. BOEM published its Call for Information and Nominations on the 6th of February 2012 in the Federal Register to gauge interest for the Call Area. The Call additionally asked for information from the public regarding issues relevant to the review of nominations for the potential lease area.On the 12th of November 2012, BOEM published a Final Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact for commercial wind lease issuance and site assessment activities on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf in the Call Area. On June 17, 2014, BOEM and Massachusetts announced that a total of would be designated for commercial wind energy leasing. Later, on January 29, 2015, BOEM conducted a competitive auction to lease sections the area. Vineyard Wind 1 won the lease area, with a bid of $135.1 million, outcompeting 10 other developers, the most company participants in an OSW auction in the US thus far.