Vineyard Wind Announces Grant to New Bedford Port Authority to Advance Offshore Wind Industry
NOVEMBER 25, 2019
NEW BEDFORD – Vineyard Wind today announced a $50,000 grant to the New Bedford Port Authority for the purposes of developing publicly owned port facilities that could help support shore-based operations of the emerging Massachusetts offshore wind industry.
“Vineyard Wind is happy to support the City of New Bedford and the Port Authority in developing their port assets to further take advantage of the impending economic development opportunities that the offshore wind industry will provide in the coming years,” said Erich Stephens, Chief Development Officer for Vineyard Wind. “Greater New Bedford is uniquely positioned to capitalize on the offshore wind industry given its proximity to the lease areas, the city’s skilled workforce, and the existing maritime economy. We look forward to working with Mayor Mitchell, Port Director Anthes-Washburn and all stakeholders involved to support New Bedford and help advance Massachusetts’ offshore wind industry for years to come.”
“We appreciate the support of Vineyard Wind to help the Port of New Bedford prepare for what we expect to be a significant increase in port activity” said Ed Anthes-Washburn, Executive Director of the New Bedford Port Authority. “This funding will help NBPA identify innovative ways to benefit from the both the Vineyard Wind I construction project and categorize medium and long term opportunities for the port and our stakeholders in the offshore wind space.”
The grant from Vineyard Wind to the New Bedford Port Authority is intended to support the necessary technical consultants and industry experts needed for the City to execute engineering studies for unlocking opportunities for growth and development along the New Bedford Harbor waterfront. The investment to complete this work will help facilitate improvements needed to better prepare waterfront land and port facilities in New Bedford Harbor area to play an even larger role in the offshore wind industry.
In April, 2019 the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities approved long-term power purchase contracts between Vineyard Wind and Massachusetts’ electric distribution companies (EDCs) for the delivery of 800MW of clean offshore wind energy. Vineyard Wind established operational headquarters in New Bedford in July, 2017 and continues to support the development of New Bedford’s waterfront as the offshore wind industry continues to grow along the East Coast.
About Vineyard Wind
Vineyard Wind LLC is an offshore wind development company seeking to build the first large-scale offshore wind energy project in the US, to be located 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard. Vineyard Wind, based in New Bedford, Massachusetts, is 50 percent owned by funds of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and 50 percent by Avangrid Renewables. For more information, visit www.vineyardwind.com.
# # #
Vineyard Wind Press Contact: Brendan Moss, 617-850-2193 bmoss@vineyardwind.com