The Interior Department approved Friday a huge offshore wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts.
The SouthCoast Wind Project — developed by Ocean Winds, a joint venture of EDP Renewables and ENGIE — could power more than 840,000 homes in Massachusetts and Rhode Island if built in federal waters roughly 30 miles from the coast of Martha’s Vineyard.
The federal approval comes on the heels of SouthCoast winning the right in September to negotiate power contracts with Massachusetts and Rhode Island utilities.
SouthCoast, which plans to develop its wind array in two phases, previously faced financial troubles, driven by high inflation after the Covid-19 pandemic. Last year, it agreed to pay a $60 million in penalties for breaking previous contracts it had inked with Massachusetts utilities after the developer deemed the price it would be paid for power in the old contract too low to keep up with rising costs to build the project.
