Two more New England offshore wind farms just got the all-clear

Avangrid (NYSE: AGR) now has full federal approval of the Construction and Operations Plan (COP) for the New England Wind 1 and 2 offshore wind farms.

The approval of the COP follows the favorable Record of Decision (ROD) issued by the Biden Administration in April 2024. The milestone approval largely completes the federal, state, and local permitting process for sustainable energy company Avangrid’s 791-megawatt (MW) New England Wind 1 project.

The New England Wind 1 and New England Wind 2 projects together would have a total capacity of up to 2,600 MW of renewable energy that BOEM estimates could power more than 900,000 homes annually.

The two offshore wind farms would be approximately 20 nautical miles south of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, and about 24 nm southwest of Nantucket, Massachusetts. The COP includes up to 129 wind turbines and up to five offshore export cables transmitting electricity to onshore transmission systems in the Town of Barnstable and Bristol County, Massachusetts.

In March 2024, Avangrid submitted multiple proposals for the New England Wind projects to the Massachusetts-Rhode Island-Connecticut Multi-State Procurement for Offshore Wind. The states are expected to announce the winners in August 2024.

Avangrid asserts that New England Wind 1 is the only project in the solicitation with all federal, state, and local permits, the ability to start construction in 2025, and deliver power by 2029.

New England 1 will border Vineyard Wind 1 to the south. Last week, Avangrid announced that it had brought 10 turbines in total online at Vineyard Wind 1, making it the largest operating offshore wind farm in the US.

Read more: Vineyard Wind 1 just became the US’s largest operating offshore wind farm

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