The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has completed its environmental review of the proposed 2600MW New England Wind project zone off Massachusetts.
BOEM estimates the proposed scheme would generate, enough energy to power more than 900,000 homes.
“Diverse public input was essential to BOEM’s careful and thorough analysis of the environmental impact of the proposed New England Wind project,” said BOEM director Elizabeth Klein.
“This document demonstrates the administration’s steady progress towards attaining clean energy goals that will better the lives of Americans now and in the future.”
The New England Wind project is located about 20 nautical miles south of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, and about 24 nautical miles south-west of Nantucket.
Park City, LLC, submitted a two-phased project plan comprising up to 129 turbines, with up to five offshore export cables that would transmit electricity to onshore transmission systems in the Town of Barnstable and Bristol County.
The “Notice of Availability of a Final Environmental Impact Statement for Park City Wind LLC’s Proposed New England Wind Farm Offshore Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York” will publish in the Federal Register on 1 March.
The final environmental impact statement analyses the potential environmental impacts of the activities laid out in the New England Wind project’s construction and operations plan and reasonable alternatives. The Final EIS is available on BOEM’s website.
BOEM plans to issue a record of decision on whether to approve the project no earlier than April 2024. If the project is approved, the record of decision will also identify any conditions of approval.