Iberdrola, operating via its US arm Avangrid, has secured clearance from the Biden Administration for its New England offshore wind farm. The approval, known as the Federal Record of Decision (ROD), alongside the anticipated Construction and Operations Plan Approval (COP) in 2024, marks a crucial milestone in the permitting process for the upcoming offshore wind project.

With this approval, the Department of the Interior has approved more than 10 gigawatts of clean energy from offshore wind projects — enough to power nearly 4 million homes.  “The Biden-Harris administration has built an offshore wind industry from the ground up after years of delay from the previous administration. Today, we celebrate the incredible progress being made toward achieving our goal of 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030," said Secretary Deb Haaland. “The New England Wind project will help lower consumer costs, combat climate change, create jobs to support families, and?ensure economic opportunities are accessible to all communities.” 

"With the approval of the New England Wind project, we have now approved more than 10 gigawatts of offshore wind projects in under three years," said Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Director Elizabeth Klein. "BOEM is proud of our open communication and frequent collaboration with federal partners, Tribal Nations, states, industry and ocean users to shape project reviews and avoid or minimize conflict with existing users and marine life.” 

The New England Wind project, consisting of New England Wind 1 and New England Wind 2, has the potential to create thousands of jobs and provide approximately 2 gigawatts of clean, reliable energy, enough to power nearly one million homes and businesses in the region, which would reduce nearly 4 million tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent to taking approximately 700,000 cars off the road each year over the life of the project. In total it will create up to 9,200 full-time skilled jobs and bring $8 billion in direct investment to the region.

In addition, the project also offers opportunities for economic growth and industrial attraction in the area, such as an assembly centre, an offshore wind training centre, a new offshore crane factory, operations and maintenance facilities in Bridgeport, Connecticut and New Bedford, among others.