Massive offshore wind project that was to be operational in 2023 gets a single turbine running

Vineyard Wind, a massive offshore wind project 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard, failed to deliver electricity in 2023 as its developers had pledged to do, but they announced Wednesday that one of the project’s 62 turbines was running.

The project’s developers had for years been selling the project as the first utility-scale offshore wind project in the country, based on the 2023 timeline, according to Statehouse News. In December, New York’s South Fork Wind became the nation’s first.

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Avangrid, Inc. announced Wednesday that it had managed to get one of the project’s 62 turbines operational, supplying 5 of its 800 megawatts to the grid.

The Commonwealth Beacon reported Tuesday that the developers had missed its 2023 pledge, which they were promising to meet late last week.

Two days into the new year, the Beacon reported, the developers of the $4 billion project still had not made good on the promise.

A spokesperson for Avangrid told the Beacon Tuesday that the company was “working through all the required tests” and was expected to deliver power soon.

During an August boat tour of the project site, Sy Oytan, Avangrid COO told reporters and lawmakers that the project would be generating up to 300 megawatts by the end of 2023, and then it would be fully operational by the middle of 2024.

Rhode Island’s Block Island Wind Farm, which began providing power in 2016, was the first operational offshore wind farm in the U.S., but with five turbines, it’s not considered commercial scale, according to the Associated Press.