Nantucket Finding Offshore Wind Farm Is Full Of Hot Air

In 2020, the Town of Nantucket signed a “Good Neighbor Agreement” with Vineyard Wind, the company that’s developing a 62-turbine offshore wind farm south of the island. Among other things, the agreement required that the developer communicate regularly with the island’s governing board.

The island’s government now says the developer has abandoned any commitments it made when it was selling the project to the island, and they’re taking steps to hold it accountable.

Gone into hiding

The Biden-Harris administration approved the project in 2021, touting it as America’s first offshore wind farm. It was to be the first of thousands of towers producing 30 gigawatts of intermittent power by 2030.

In July 2023, a 350-foot blade on one of the Vineyard Wind turbines experienced a catastrophic failure and plunged into the ocean. The company didn’t notify the island for three days after the incident, and by that time, the debris was already littering the beaches of the island, which is part of Massachusetts. It would continue to wash up on the island’s shores for months, harming its vital tourism season.

Residents and the Nantucket Select Board say that the lack of communication over the blade incident is part of a pattern in which the developer has broken every promise it made while promoting the project. The board held a press conference Tuesday announcing they’d had enough.

They sent a letter to the developer listing 15 demands and requiring a response by August 12. If the company meets the demands, members of the board explained at the press conference, Vineyard Wind will come into compliance with its obligations and public commitments.