NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (WPRI) — The city of New Bedford has been chosen as the base for a major offshore wind project.
Massachusetts leaders signed a lease Monday to utilize the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal as the primary staging and deployment spot for the project.
“This is a result of many years worth of work, a lot of people believed this could be a big initiative, and a big opportunity for the south coast of the Commonwealth,” Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said.
The wind farm is set to be located 14 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard. The company, “Vineyard Wind” was picked to build the farm back in May. When completed, officials said it will provide 800 megawatts of wind power, which is almost 6% of the state’s current electric load.
“The work to get to this point is significant,” New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell said. “The good news is it will get easier as things go on.”
Both Baker and Mitchell agreed that New Bedford is a great place for the company to settle down as Massachusetts starts moving forward in the field of clean energy.
“This is not the end of this story, this is the beginning of this story,” Baker added. “If we happen to have a second term we’re looking forward to going out to bid to chase another 800 watts on this stuff.”
The new wind farm will also bring new jobs to the state, officials said.
