Possibility Of Another Offshore Wind Farm Gaining Steam

A second offshore wind farm is one step closer to becoming a reality and yes, it would be in the vicinity of Nantucket.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced on Monday that they have completed an environmental review of the proposed New England Wind project – which would be just 24 nautical miles southwest of Nantucket. BOEM’s decision whether to approve the project or not will be no earlier than April 2024.

The review was completed by BOEM in support of the Biden-Harris administration’s goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030.

BOEM estimates the proposed project would generate up to 2,600 megawatts (MW) of electricity, enough to power more than 900,000 homes with clean, renewable energy.

“Diverse public input was essential to BOEM’s careful and thorough analysis of the environmental impact of the proposed New England Wind project,” said BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein. “This document demonstrates the administration’s steady progress towards attaining clean energy goals that will better the lives of Americans now and in the future.”

The project, which was proposed by Park City Wind LLC, would be developed in two phases and includes up to 129 wind turbine generators (WTGs) with up to five offshore export cables. These cables would transmit electricity to onshore transmission systems in the Town of Barnstable and Bristol County, Massachusetts.

On December 23, 2022, BOEM published a draft environmental impact statement, initiating a 60-day public comment period that closed Feb. 21, 2023. BOEM also held three virtual public meetings to solicit additional feedback on the draft EIS from several stakeholders who may have an interest or concern with the project such as Tribal Nations, local community members, commercial fishing interests, and other ocean users.

BOEM received 776 comments and said in the press release they considered them when developing the Final EIS, which is a critical step in the environmental review of the project.

You can read the final environmental impact statement by clicking here.

If approved, this would become the second offshore wind farm to be developed off the coast of Nantucket – joining the much-discussed Vineyard Wind project that is approximately 15 miles southwest of Nantucket. Vineyard Wind began offshore Turbine construction in June of 2023, raised the first of 62 turbines in October of 2023, and delivered its first power to the New England power grid in early January