The Biden administration has offered up its approval for a massive wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts, as part of its last-minute push to boost climate-adjacent projects before Donald Trump takes office in less than a month.
The Interior Department announced its approval of the SouthCoast Wind Project on Friday, marking the 11th time the Biden administration approved a commercial-scale offshore wind project — totaling over 19 gigawatts of anticipated clean power.
The project is expected to involve the construction of up to 141 wind turbine generators and up to five offshore substation platforms around 26 nautical miles south of Martha’s Vineyard and 20 nautical miles south of Nantucket.
Up to six wind turbine positions originally proposed have been removed from the current approved project to reduce possible environmental impacts, such as displacing local wildlife.
If built, the SouthCoast Wind Project is projected to generate enough power for more than 840,000 homes in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
“When we walked in the door of this Administration, there were zero approved, commercial-scale offshore wind projects in federal waters,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement released Friday. “Today, I am proud to celebrate our 11th approval, a testament to the commitment and enduring progress made by the hardworking public servants at the Department of the Interior.”
While the project has secured broad federal approval from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, its future remains a bit uncertain under the incoming Trump administration.
Trump has long lambasted the offshore wind industry, calling it the “most expensive energy there is” while accusing turbines of killing whales, something the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has denied.
During his campaign this year, the president-elect vowed to roll back federal support for offshore wind projects on Day One.
As these large-scale projects require critical approvals from the federal government to obtain certain permits and begin construction, the new Trump administration may approve few, if any, offshore wind projects.
The SouthCoast Wind Project had been seeking federal approval for years, though it’s not fully out of the woods yet. The project reportedly still needs to secure at least one other federal authorization before beginning construction, according to Bloomberg. This likely won’t be delivered until late March, the outlet reported.
Amid the uncertainty for offshore wind under Trump, some in the industry are confident that all 11 projects approved under the Biden administration, which are in varying stages of the permitting and construction process, will remain on track over the next four years.
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It remains unclear what a Day One executive order from Trump regarding wind will look like, as he nor his transition team have offered up additional details.
Barring any additional hurdles, the SouthCoast Wind Project is seeking to start construction as early as next year, providing power to local residents by the end of the decade.