Vineyard Wind 1 and Nantucket
Vineyard Wind 1 is located in federal offshore wind lease area OCS-A 0501, which is 15 miles south of Nantucket. The project consists of an array of 62 wind turbines, spaced 1-nautical mile apart in an east-west and north-south orientation. The project is delivering power directly to Massachusetts through offshore export cables that travel north of the lease area through Muskeget Channel to a landfall site and grid interconnection point in Barnstable.
The permitting process for Vineyard Wind 1 project began in 2018 and was completed in 2021. A portion of Vineyard Wind 1’s offshore export cable corridor passes through Nantucket’s offshore waters and was subject to Nantucket Conservation Commission review during the permitting process. The Town and County of Nantucket, along with several island organizations, also served as consulting parties to the National Historic Preservation Act Section 106 review of Vineyard Wind 1.
Vineyard Wind, the Town and County of Nantucket, and leading Island nonprofits also partnered in 2020 to create The Nantucket Offshore Wind Community Fund as part of the Good Neighbor Agreement (see below).
Good Neighbor Agreement
On August 27, 2020, Vineyard Wind, the Town and County of Nantucket, the Maria Mitchell Association, and the Nantucket Preservation Trust entered into the Good Neighbor Agreement, which established The Nantucket Offshore Wind Community Fund. The Fund supports local initiatives to combat the effects of global climate change, enhance coastal resiliency, and protect, restore, and preserve Nantucket’s cultural and historic resources.
Vineyard Wind provided $4 million to seed the Fund, which is administered by the Community Foundation for Nantucket. The Community Foundation for Nantucket issued its first round of grants from the Fund in May 2024.
The Good Neighbor Agreement also includes measures that Vineyard Wind agreed to implement to reduce the potential visual impact of Vineyard Wind 1 to Nantucket, including painting the wind turbines a non-reflective off-white/light gray color to blend into the horizon and installing Aircraft Detection Lighting System, a lighting system that reduces nighttime lighting for the project. Vineyard Wind also agreed to move the first row of wind turbines farther away from Nantucket.
The Good Neighbor Agreement can be found here.