Vineyard Wind construction and operations plan to be reviewed

U.S. ocean energy regulators have announced their intent to study the environmental impacts of approving an offshore wind developer's plans to construct and operate an 800-megawatt wind energy facility offshore Massachusetts.

At issue is a proposal by Vineyard Wind LLC to construct and operate an 800-megawatt (MW) wind energy facility offshore Massachusetts. The project area, a lease for which was awarded to Offshore MW LLC by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in 2015, is located about 14 miles from the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, in water with depths of about 121 to 161 feet.

Vineyard Wind proposed a Construction and Operations Plan for its project in December 2017, potentially to be constructed as two 400 MW phases, up to five years apart. The project would entail the installation of up to 106 wind turbine generators, each with a capacity between 8 and 10 MW, with two or four offshore substations or electrical service platforms. Potential export cable landfalls include the towns of Yarmouth, Barnstable, and Nantucket, and on-shore construction and staging at the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal facility.

On March 29, 2018, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced its publication of a Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for Vineyard Wind's Construction and Operations Plan. BOEM has opened a 30-day public comment period, during which it will conduct five public scoping meetings and accept comments that will be used to inform preparation of the EIS.

BOEM recently proposed revised its regulatory processes by publishing draft guidelines for the use of “Design Envelopes” in Construction and Operations Plans for offshore wind energy facilities, which it said would allow developers greater flexibility. Vineyard Wind's is said to be the first to use this design envelope approach in its proposed COP.