Iberdrola Group company AVANGRID has finalized an agreement to take over responsibility as the operations and management services provider for Vineyard Wind 1, the U.S.' first commercial-scale offshore wind project.
The agreements include an operations and maintenance service agreement and asset management agreement, which designate AVANGRID as the party responsible for overseeing the operation and management of the facility once construction is complete and commercial operations begin. Through these agreements, AVANGRID will provide services to the Vineyard Wind project and be the lead for the operations management of the wind farm, including the supervision of critical tasks such as turbine, cable and substation maintenance, coordination of contractors, 24/7 control center services, trading, and assets management.
AVANGRID will hire about 20 technically qualified employees, including key roles that will receive intensive training overseas through Iberdola's operational offshore wind farms in the UK and Europe, helping to prepare them to knowledgeably operate the groundbreaking U.S. facility.
Vineyard Wind 1 is scheduled to begin delivering clean energy to Massachusetts in 2023 and achieve commercial operations in 2024.
“AVANGRID is proud to pioneer the offshore wind industry in the United States, and by leveraging the global experience of the IBERDROLA group and a skilled and talented local workforce, we are well positioned to maximize the operation and performance of the historic, nation-leading Vineyard Wind 1 project,” said Pedro Azagra, CEO of AVANGRID. “Offshore wind represents a tremendous opportunity to advance the United States’ ambitious climate goals, and the completion and successful operation of Vineyard Wind 1 will lay the groundwork for the continued growth of the industry in the decades to come, including AVANGRID’s robust 4.9 Gigawatt project pipeline.”
In January 2022, AVANGRID announced the completion of the restructuring of its existing Vineyard Wind joint venture to become the largest offshore wind supplier in New England.
Located 15 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, Vineyard Wind 1 will be the first commercial-scale offshore wind farm in the United States. With a generating capacity of 800 megawatts (MW), the project will provide electricity to more than 400,000 homes. The project is joint owned by AVANGRID and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) funds CI II and CI III.
In total, AVANGRID has a projected offshore wind pipeline of 5 Gigawatts (GW) on the East Coast of the United States – enough to power more than two million households. In addition to its 50% stake in the first-in-the-nation Vineyard Wind 1 project (800 MW total), AVANGRID owns 100% of Commonwealth Wind (1200 MW to Massachusetts), Park City Wind (804 MW to Connecticut) and Kitty Hawk Wind (2500 MW off the coast of North Carolina).
Within IBERDROLA's global renewables pipeline, totaling 90 GW, offshore wind has become one of the group’s central growth opportunities. Over the last year, IBERDROLA has invested in new growth platforms in other countries such as Poland, Sweden, Ireland, Japan, and Australia, which has increased the size of the group’s global offshore wind portfolio to 31.7 GW.
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