The country's first commercial-scale offshore wind farm project has started laying cable offshore from its New Bedford operations base — even as two other large-scale wind projects in the state have pressed pause.
Gov. Charlie Baker and some of his top deputies joined lawmakers from southeastern Massachusetts and officials from Vineyard Wind's parent company Avangrid to celebrate plans to establish the state's first offshore wind industry manufacturing facility at Brayton Point in Somerset.
Two developers vying for the state's third offshore wind farm are each promising economic investment — Mayflower Wind in Fall River and now Vineyard Wind in Salem.
If its bid is selected as the third offshore wind farm in the state, Mayflower Wind plans to set up operations in Fall River and spend up to $81 million on economic development programs on the SouthCoast.
Fishermen from New Bedford and Fairhaven are among those in a coalition of commercial fisheries suing the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management over its approval of the Vineyard Wind project.
Is it wrong to root against the home team? Because I hope against hope all of this falls through. Windmills in the ocean are an eyesore, among other issues.