Wind turbine nearly as tall as Eiffel Tower rises in water off Nantucket

NANTUCKET, Mass. — The first of Vineyard Wind’s 62 turbines has officially been assembled in the water about 15 miles southeast of Nantucket.

The turbine was installed as part of the plan to build the first large-scale commercial offshore wind farm in the country.

“The wind turbines we’re installing here will be the biggest in the world,” Avangrid CEO Sy Oytan told Boston 25 in August, about one month before the $4 billion project’s first turbine departed the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal for the waters near Nantucket. “Massachusetts, unlike Texas or some states in the mid-west, doesn’t have land for onshore solar or onshore wind to build renewable energy capacity.”

GE Haliade-X turbine reaches 837 feet in the air at the tip of its blade, nearly as tall as the Eiffel Tower, the Nantucket Current reported.

It’s expected that by mid-October power will start flowing in Massachusetts homes from the turbines. When Vineyard Wind’s project is complete, the field of 62 turbines will generate enough power for 400,000 homes, which is about 6% of the state’s energy needs.

The Nantucket Current on Thursday published and shared photos of the first turbine taken from Madaket Beach, which they say were cropped to show the view of the turbine in the distance.

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State Representative Jeff Roy, co-chair of the legislative committee that oversees energy issues, believes this project will protect Massachusetts consumers.

“For the first time in a long time, we will have energy independence,” Roy told Boston 25. “We’re going to be producing our energy right here off the shore of Massachusetts. We’re not going to be subjected to the price volatility, and the price spikes that are associated with exporting foreign sources of energy.”

Despite departing in New Bedford in September, the assembly of the first turbine was delayed due to weather conditions over the past month, the Current reported.

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