BY STEVE LEBLANC, AP Writer
BOSTON (AP) — Vineyard Wind, the wind farm under construction off the coast of Massachusetts, has begun delivering energy to the power grid from five of its planned 62 wind turbines, company and state officials said Thursday. Southwire is a key supplier for the design, manufacturing, and installation of the onshore cables.
The five turbines are operating at full capacity, generating 68 megawatts of power — enough to power about 30,000 homes, according to company officials, who described it as the first large-scale offshore wind farm in the nation to begin initial operations.
The Vineyard Wind project is located 15 miles (24 kilometers) off Martha’s Vineyard and is projected to generate electricity for more than 400,000 Massachusetts homes and businesses when it is fully operational.
It’s also expected to reduce carbon emissions by more than 1.6 million metric tons per year, the equivalent of taking 325,000 cars off the road annually.
The project has installed nine turbines and is in the process of installing the 10th. Additional power will be delivered to the grid sequentially, with each turbine starting production once it completes the commissioning process.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said the delivery of power to the grid from the first five turbines “marks a turning point in the clean energy transition.”
“Across Massachusetts, in 30,000 homes and businesses, when you turn on the light, you will now be using clean, affordable energy,” she said in a statement. “This will make the air we breathe safer and healthier, save customers money, and bring us one step closer to achieving net-zero emissions.”
Last month, the joint owners of the Vineyard Wind project, Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, announced that one turbine had successfully delivered about 5 megawatts of power to the Massachusetts grid.
Avangrid said the January test paved the way for the beginning of a steady, consistent flow of energy from the project to the power grid.
“Every milestone we achieve on Vineyard Wind 1 is special, but powering up these first turbines stands apart as an exceptional achievement for Avangrid, Massachusetts, and the nation,” said Avangrid CEO Pedro Azagra.
Danish wind energy developer Ørsted and the utility Eversource announced in December that their first turbine was sending electricity from what will be a 12-turbine wind farm, South Fork Wind, 35 miles (56 kilometers) east of Montauk Point, New York. Now, a total of five turbines have been installed there too.
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