BOSTON (AP) — U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland joined with Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker to mark the groundbreaking of the first commercial-scale offshore wind farm in the United States.
Haaland said Thursday on Cape Cod that the Vineyard Wind 1 project is the first of many that will contribute to President Joe Biden’s goal of 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030.
The farm will generate enough electricity annually to power more than 400,000 homes. It’s set to be located about 15 miles away from the coast of Martha’s Vineyard.
The project will be 25 times the size of the country's only existing offshore facility, located in Rhode Island, according to Iberdrola, a partial owner of the company operating the wind farm.
Iberdrola says the project will reduce tariffs by $1.4 million in the first 20 years of operation, while preventing the emission of more than 1.7 million tons of carbon dioxide per year, the equivalent or taking 325,000 vehicles off the roads.
The construction of wind farms like these have been met with some criticism. Fishing groups have said the federal government did not adequately account for impacts on their industry.
