Vineyard Wind is on the one-yard line.
Iberdrola officials said Wednesday that 60 of the project’s 62 turbines have been installed off the coast of Massachusetts. Of those, 52 have been cleared to start generating power. Company executives said the final two turbines could be installed in a matter of days.
“For me, as an engineer, the farm is already completed,” Iberdrola’s executive chair, Ignacio Sánchez Galán, told financial analysts during an earnings call. “I think these numbers mean the level of availability is similar for other offshore wind farms we have in operation. So for me, that is completed.”
The announcement puts the U.S. offshore wind sector on the precipice of a major victory. Massachusetts inked a deal to buy power from the 800-megawatt wind farm in 2017, with the hope it would slash planet-warming emissions and provide a jolt of needed power during winter months, when New England’s limited gas pipeline network is pushed to the max.
