The US’ ‘forever first’ offshore wind array Vineyard Wind has extended its marshalling port lease into 2026, indicating it will not be complete as expected by this year’s end and further highlighting its struggles to get steel in the water, according to local press The New Bedford Light.
The project is being marshalled out of Massachusetts’ New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal (NBMCT), the nation’s first purpose-built offshore wind port. Sources confirm that Massachusetts Clean Energy Centre (MassCEC), which oversees NBMTC, extended the project's lease to 30 June 2026, with provisions for early termination.
The 800MW project in development by the joint venture of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Iberdrola’s Avangrid is the nation’s first to receive all its
federal and state permits in 2021 and was initially expected to be operation by 2024.
That timeline has been pushed back repeatedly, with the biggest setback seen last July when a
blade on a GE Vernova 13MW Haliade-X turbine splintered, sending shards of fiberglass into coastal waters and stopping the project for months while an investigation into the causes was conducted.
Installation was resumed last fall, with GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik saying it would be
“materially complete” by the end of this year.
Vineyard declined to comment.
The fact that NBMCT is available for the contract extension is itself an indication of wider travails in the US industry that are playing out in a few key states, Massachusetts among them.
The port was expected to serve as marshalling hub for Ocean Winds’ SouthCoast project originally slated to begin construction this year. It also faced delays amid surging inflation and financing costs that forced the developer to
cancel its original offtake contract with the state.
The project was
re-awarded in a state solicitation last September but has so far
failed to sign final offtake contracts with utilities after multiple delays amid ongoing turmoil related to President Donald Trump’s sector hostility.
The project has committed to a new lease at NBMCT starting 1 January 2029.
Trump turmoil
As promised on his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order freezing offshore wind permitting and leasing while putting existing arrays under review with a goal of “terminating or amending” them.
The order put a chill in the industry,
potentially scuttling billions in port and supply chain investment and causing several developers to put projects on ice for the duration of Trump’s term.
SouthCoast also faces
litigation from activist groups funded by
fossil fuel
-backed conservative associations that is turbocharged by Trump’s order.
The President now allows the Department of Justice (DoJ), which is charged with defending the government in lawsuits, to stay or settle litigation in agreement with the plaintiffs.
The DoJ has already made
several moves in compliance with plaintiffs’ demands in other offshore wind lawsuits, and analysts see projects that have not yet entered construction as particularly vulnerable.
Recharge is awaiting reply from SouthCoast.
Massachusetts has some of the nation’s most ambitious offshore wind and emission reductions goals. State law mandates 5.6GW under contract by 2027 and its greenhouse gas emissions targets may require more than 20GW of offshore wind capacity for the energy-scarce region.
The state along with other sector leader New York is
currently suing the Administration over Trump’s order.
