Biden administration approves the nation’s eighth large offshore wind project

By JENNIFER McDERMOTT
Associated Press

The Biden administration approved a new wind project off the Massachusetts coast Tuesday that is large enough it will provide more electricity than the state’s former coal-fired generating station. Avangrid’s New England Wind is the United States’ eighth large offshore wind project to be greenlit, and is tied for the largest ever approved, but will probably end up smaller. The project, to be built in two phases, was approved for up to 129 turbines capable of generating up to 2,600 megawatts of electricity. Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind is another 2,600-megawatt project, to be built east of Virginia Beach, Virginia. The last operating coal-fired power plant in Massachusetts, Brayton Point, at 1,600 megawatts, closed in 2017.