A Commitment to Barnstable and the region
Cape Cod and the Islands are leading the way in efforts to decarbonize the New England electricity grid. In 2018, Massachusetts selected Vineyard Wind to build the nation’s first offshore wind project 35 miles south of Barnstable and 14 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket and interconnecting in Hyannis. This project began onshore construction in Barnstable in 2021, and when completed will interconnect in West Barnstable. Both projects interconnect to the New England electricity grid powering over 400,000 homes and businesses.
Vineyard Wind is committed to responsible offshore wind development, environmental protection, and minimizing short-term impacts to Barnstable residents due to in-road utility installation. The project and the community have benefited from an open and active dialogue for nearly five years.
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Host Community Agreement
In 2018, Vineyard Wind and the Town of Barnstable entered into a Host Community Agreement (HCA) to establish a guide for a long-term, cooperative relationship while providing specific benefits, predictability, and revenue for the town of Barnstable for years to come.
The full HCA can be found here.
Beyond the Host Community Agreement, Barnstable and Vineyard Wind collaborated on the town’s sewer expansion effort, and co-located sewer infrastructure along the cable route, saving the town millions in project costs, minimizing need for future road construction, and helping to address the significant local environmental impact of wastewater and nitrogen loading that degrades the town’s bays, estuaries, and ponds.
OVERVIEW OF WORK IN BARNSTABLE
Construction in Barnstable includes two offshore transmission cables buried beneath the seafloor, buried beneath Covell’s Beach in Centerville, buried beneath public roadways, and connecting to the electricity grid in Independence Park adjacent to existing substation infrastructure. The permitting process began in 2018. State permitting is complete and federal permitting concluded in early 2021, with construction commencing in the town of Barnstable in the middle of that year. View permitting documents here. View onshore work notices here.
VINEYARD WIND IN BARNSTABLE:
Magnetic Field Monitoring at Covell’s beach
Letters from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts regarding compliance for VW1 Monitoring:
To learn more about Vineyard Wind 1’s processes for Magnetic Fielding Monitoring at Covell’s Beach, please visit this link.