Iberdrola launches a new 1,200 MW US offshore wind energy plan

Iberdrola, through Vineyard Wind, aspires to the development of a new marine wind power project in United States waters, this time in the State of Connecticut, for the development of up to 1,200 megawatts (MW).

Vineyard Wind, a 50% owned company by Avangrid – the US subsidiary of the Spanish group – and the Danish fund Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), presented the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) its wind power project ‘Park City Wind ‘, which includes proposals for the development of 408 MW wind farm and options for 800 MW, 1,000 MW and 1,200 MW, which would be built in one of the two lease areas assigned to the company.

These lease areas are located south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, in one of the areas with the strongest winds on the east coast of the country, and are not visible from any part of the Connecticut waterfront.

The CEO of Vineyard Wind, Lars Pedersen, highlighted the proposal “it is much more than a wind energy project”. “It is an opportunity for Connecticut to develop a world-class offshore wind turnines industry in Bridgeport and reinforce its role as a high-value industrial center in the United States for years to come,” he said.

Vineyard Wind believes that each of the proposals in its Park City Wind farm project represents “significant economic benefits and job creation for Connecticut, hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity and miles of work,” especially in the development zone.

On Monday, the deadline for submitting projects to the tender launched by Connecticut for the development of up to 2 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind capacity expired. Together with the participation of Iberdrola, they have also presented a project for the Mayflower Wind contest, a joint venture of Shell and EDPR, as well as the Danish Orsted and Eversource.

In this way, the group chaired by Ignacio Sánchez Galán reaffirms its commitment to the ecological navy in the United States where, also through Vineyard Wind, the mayor offshore park promoted on a large scale in the country is located in Massachusetts waters, with 800 MW it would mean an investment of about 2.8 billion dollars (about 2.5 billion euros).

However, the development of this first project has encountered the obstacles of the Government of Donald Trump in advancing its objectives and achieving the final declaration of environmental impact, which will entail delays in the planned calendar.

In addition, at the end of last August Vineyard Wind also presented a proposal to expand this project in Massachusetts waters with a 400 MW plan and two other options for 800 MW.

The group chaired by Ignacio Sánchez Galán has, through its subsidiary Avangrid, marine wind projects under construction or in the United States portfolio for some 7,300 MW of capacity.

Along with these projects, she also aspires to the development of ecological marine in Kitty Hawk (North Carolina) and is also very interested in two of the large marine marine tenders in the country in the states of New York and California, the latter through technology floating wind power.