A year ago, Vineyard Wind was awarded the development of this wind power project in waters of Massachusetts, which will involve an investment of about 2,800 million dollars (about 2,400 million euros) and represents the entry of Iberdrola into the ‘offshore’ wind farm market of the United States. United, thus marking a new milestone in its international expansion in the renewable energy sector.

Vineyard Wind, the 50% owned company by Iberdrola and the Danish fund Copenhaguen Infraestructure Partners (CIP), has obtained permission for the construction of the transmission facilities that will send the electric power to the regional network of its wind energy ‘macro’ project marine of 800 megawatts (MW) that will build in waters of Massachusetts (United States).

The approval received by the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Location Council (EFSB) represents a new milestone in the development of the wind farm, which will be the first major commercial-scale marine wind project in the United States.

Vineyard Wind Development Director, Erich Stephens, stressed that this approval reaffirms the “collaborative and community-focused approach that Vineyard Wind has adopted in the design and development” of the project.

For its part, the president and CEO of Avangrid Renewables, Laura Beane, assessed that the authorization is “another decisive step forward” in the project and stressed that the future of the offshore wind industry in the United States is growing in Massachusetts “thanks to the commitment of many stakeholders to offer competitive solutions to climate change”. “We remain committed to providing environmental benefits and economic opportunities through our investment,” he said.

With this step forward given by the project, Iberdrola and its partners in Vineyard Wind maintain the calendar to begin construction on land in 2019, with the aim of making the park operational in 2021.

Within these advances, Vineyard Wind has already received approval in April from the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities for long-term power purchase contracts between the company and the electric distribution companies.

The project also proceeds with the public and regulatory review through more than 25 federal, state and local approval processes.

Likewise, last November, MHI Vestas Offshore Wind was chosen as the preferred supplier to supply the 84 9.5 MW wind turbines for the wind farm.

This project is part of the objectives of the State of Massachusetts for the development of marine wind infrastructures within the framework of its Law of Green Communities, which foresees the implementation of up to 1,600 MW of this technology in the next decade.

In the United States, the group chaired by Ignacio Sánchez Galán was also awarded last year the rights to develop and build a wind farm in the area known as Kitty Hawk, in waters of North Carolina and with a potential of up to 1,486 MW.

In addition, Vineyard Wind aims to develop another ‘macroproject’ of offshore wind in New York (United States) of up to 1,200 MW, which would be the largest in the world with these characteristics.