In a major step for the only Island-based partnership in the race to develop offshore wind, Vineyard Wind won the right this week to negotiate a 20-year state contract to build an 800-megawatt wind farm south of Martha’s Vineyard.
As wind farm developers begin to jockey in earnest to build projects in waters off the Vineyard, a new round of surveys related to a turbine project south of the Island is set to begin this week.
Interest in offshore wind energy in the Northeast continues, with two companies vying for the remaining leases in the Massachusetts wind energy area south of the Vineyard.
With offshore wind developers inching their way through the federal permitting process, government and company representatives stopped by the Vineyard this week.
A landmark energy bill passed in the final hours of the legislative session Sunday opens the door to offshore wind energy, but prevents Cape Wind from competing for state-required energy contracts.
