The Island’s electric supplier is in the process of finishing off a massive $310 million project that is hoped to meet the growing demand of energy on Martha’s Vineyard.

Eversource last week said that the first of two new five-plus mile cables between the Island and Falmouth has been laid, and the second is expected to be installed in the coming weeks, depending on the weather. 

“We’re in the home stretch,” said Mathew Biron, the director of project management and construction for Eversource. 

Construction on the two new electric transmission cables started in December 2023 and the utility has said it is being done to catch up with the increasing energy peaks in the summer months. 

For decades, the Island has been getting its power via four undersea cables, and in the summer residents and visitors have gotten a boost from diesel generators. 

Eversource moved forward with replacing one of the aging cables and installing a fifth cable in the wake of cracks in the infrastructure in recent years. 

In 2021, one of the cables failed, resulting in rolling blackouts on the Vineyard. 

The two new 23-kilovolt cables will make landfall in East Chop and West Chop, and will mean the Island will no longer need to rely on the diesel generators.

A 2024 report from the Martha’s Vineyard Commission found that electrical use on the Island had increased by 17 per cent in the prior 10 years, and that was expected to continue to rise as more households adopt electric as a main source of power. 

“It’s to meet the growing needs for electric vehicles and home heating,” said Mr. Biron. 

Eversource had previously dug trenches for the new cables and Islanders may have seen the cable laying barge off the north shore earlier this month while the first cable is installed. 

After the second one is laid, Eversource will work on the onshore connections and begin integrity testing. 

“Once that happens, it’s just about connecting that to the grid,” Mr. Biron said.

Connection is expected to be made during the first quarter of 2026, but if all goes according to plan, Islanders won’t notice anything. 

“If we are doing our job right, you should notice nothing,” Mr. Biron said. “The impact is really going to be in the avoidance in a reliability issue.”   

The cost of the construction will be shared by customers across eastern Massachusetts and will not appear in bills until the project is complete, Eversource had told the Gazette in past interviews. The Department of Public Utilities will conduct a review of the project as part of a rate distribution review in the future. The costs will be spread out across the life of the project in order to minimize impacts to customers, an Eversource official said.