Vineyard Wind, the joint venture between Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), has selected GE Renewable Energy as its preferred supplier of wind turbines for its Vineyard Wind 1 project, the first utility-scale offshore wind installation in the US
The company also announced that, as part of reaching this important milestone, Vineyard Wind has decided to temporarily withdraw its construction and operations plan from further review by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to allow the project team to conduct a final technical review associated with using the Haliade-X.
Vineyard Wind chief executive Lars Pedersen said, “While the decision to pause the ongoing process was difficult, taking this step now avoids potentially more federal delays. We are convinced it will provide the shortest overall timeline for delivering the project as planned. We intend to restart the BOEM process from where we left off as soon as we complete the final review.”
The company expects its review to take several weeks, after which Vineyard Wind will resume the federal permitting process with BOEM. With a buffer built into the project schedule, Vineyard Wind still expects to reach financial close in H2 2021 and to begin delivering clean energy to Massachusetts in 2023.
“Selection of GE as our preferred turbine supplier means that an American company will play a vital role in the development of the first commercial scale offshore windfarm in the US,” Mr Pedersen sad. “This is a huge moment not only for the future of our project, but also for the future of an industry that is poised for exponential growth in the coming decades.”
GE Renewable Energy offshore wind president and chief executive John Lavelle said, “GE Renewable Energy is proud to partner with Vineyard Wind for the first major offshore wind project in the US.
“To be selected as the preferred supplier is an important sign of confidence in our technology. We look forward to making an important contribution to the growth of offshore wind in the US.”
Vineyard Wind 1 is an 800-MW project to be built 24 km off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard.
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