In mid-March, the final turbine blades of Vineyard Wind, the offshore wind farm sited 15 miles south of Nantucket, were installed. Vineyard Wind is the first large-scale offshore wind project in the U.S. The $4.5 billion project features 62 turbines and is capable of providing clean energy to approximately 400,000 homes.
Vineyard is one of five East Coast offshore wind projects that recently won court victories over the Trump administration and then restarted construction after the administration shut them down citing unspecified national security threats. Judges reviewing classified materials ruled that the concerns were not sufficient to halt work on the projects.
Another of the five projects, the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, is more than 70% complete. All five projects have restarted construction. If completed, the five projects will produce nearly 6 gigawatts of electricity to East Coast states, enough to power roughly 2.5 million homes and provide a massive boost to the region’s energy stability.
Across the East Coast, eight states have previously committed to building more than 45 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2040, enough to power more than 30 million homes. The dozens of projects that have yet to start have little chance of advancing while Trump remains in office. His administration has halted permits and leases for other planned offshore wind projects. Despite the setbacks, state lawmakers say they still believe in the long-term future of offshore wind in light of basic economics and their states’ rapidly increasing energy demands.
