.gif)
Vineyard
Wind is to begin geophysical and geotechnical site investigations its
lease
area 14 miles (24km) off Martha's
Vineyard, Massachusetts this week. The work is expected to be completed
by the end of August.
Two vessels,
R/V Henry Hudson and
R/V
Shearwater, will be used to
carry out the work which will take place between the Vineyard Wind lease
area and Cape Cop including Muskeget Channel and Nantucket Sound. The survey
will be used to identify the best locations for subsea export cables; used
to bring power generated by the wind farms ashore. The vessels will make
use of remotely operated underwater vehicles and carry works such as shallow
coring and sediment sampling.
Vineyard Wind, a joint venture of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP)
and Avangrid Renewables, is one of three companies that has acquired lease
rights to build wind projects off the coast of Massachusetts. The company
plans to begin construction early 2020.
Last year, Massachusetts officials passed a Bill which requires utilities
to procure 1,600 MW of offshore wind energy within the next decade, setting
off competition amongst offshore wind developers in the region.
Earlier this year, Avangrid Renewables won its first offshore wind lease
auction in the US off the coast of North Carolina. After a total of 17
rounds Avangrid secured the rights to the
Kitty
Hawk site with a winning bid of
$9,066,650, ($18,316/km
2).The site is located about 24 nautical
miles from shore and extends 25.7 nautical miles in a southeast direction.
It covers 495km (122,405 acres) of the Atlantic Ocean and could host an
array up to 1.5GW.
For more information please follow the links provided. To view our interactive
map, click
here.