Newly Installed Wind Turbines Off Massachusetts to Start Powering Homes in ‘Coming Weeks’

Avangrid, the sustainable energy company behind “Vineyard Wind 1 Project,” the first large-scale offshore wind project in the United States, has successfully installed the first five GE Haliade-X turbines in the water off Nantucket, according to CEO Pedro Azagra.

Once energized in the coming weeks, the turbines will deliver about 65 Megawatts of clean energy, enough to power 30,000 homes and businesses in Massachusetts.

“Our team has worked tremendously hard, through nights, weekends, and holidays to put us in the position to deliver the first power from Avangrid’s nation-leading Vineyard Wind 1 project before the end of the year,” Azagra said. “Today, we have fully installed the first five turbines of this historic project, representing a new frontier for climate action and the clean energy revolution in the United States. We look forward to working through the final technical requirements and flipping the switch to deliver these first green electrons to 30,000 homes and businesses in Massachusetts, proving that with skill, expertise, and perseverance, the dream of offshore wind in America is real.”

The power from the first five turbines will interconnect to the New England grid in Barnstable, transmitted by underground cables that connect to a substation further inland on Cape Cod, according to Azagra.

When fully operational, 62 wind turbines will be able to generate 806 Megawatts of clean electricity to power 400,000 homes and businesses in the Bay State, according to Azagra.

Joe Curtatone, President of the Northeast Clean Energy Council, called the progress “incredibly exciting.”

“This will forever change how we think about power production in the U.S., unlocking a major source of electricity in the Northeast that can be copied by other coastal regions,” Curtatone said in a statement.

Each turbine reaches 837 feet in the air at the tip of its blade, nearly as tall as the Eiffel Tower, the Nantucket Current reported.

The first of the 62 turbines was assembled in October.