Wind Resources

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The Cables

Construction in Barnstable includes two offshore transmission cables buried beneath the seafloor, buried beneath Covell’s Beach in Centerville, buried beneath public roadways, and connecting to the electricity grid in Independence Park adjacent to existing substation infrastructure.

Covell’s Beach landing point to Substation Site path.

Covell’s Beach photo of cable landing points. (Source: Patrick Johnson, Avangrid)

Vaults outwared as-built plans. (Source: Installer of duct bank to DPW for use in sewer and other utility road work planning)

Magnetic Frequency Information

After completing the baseline magnetic frequency measurements when the wind farm was off-line on May 24, 2024, Avangrid took magnetic frequency readings on June 14, 2024. Chris Long from the company Gradient, did the testing for Avangrid.

Officials from the Town, Massachusetts Department of Public Health and Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities were there to observe the process.

According to Avangrid, three wind turbines were spinning offshore producing close to 35 Megawatts of electricity during the test period.

Magnetic Field Readings

May 23, 2024: Baseline readings were taken at various points on the beach and in the parking lot. This testing was done while all Vineyard Wind 1 electrical infrastructure was turned off. Results found very little existing magnetic fields at the beach at any of the locations that is natural or unassociated with the Vineyard Wind 1 infrastructure. Most readings were between 0-1 milligauss (mG), while the highest readings in the parking lot were approximately 2 mG.

June 14, 2024: Readings were taken while three turbines were in operation, producing approximately 35 megawatts of electricity. The results are available below. Representatives from the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health were present during this testing.

Summary of magnetic field measurement results at Covell's Beach: June 14, 2024

Summary of Magnetic Field Measurement Results - Covell's 6-14-2024

Notes: mG=milligauss. NA= not applicable because no measurements made.
(1) There are two mean and maximum results that correspond to the two measurement events for each transect.

Future plans for testing include repeating this monitoring as they reach 25% installation, 50% installation, 75% installation, and full installation of the Vineyard Wind project. If there are indications that the testing needs to be more frequent based on actual measurements, we will discuss a different plan with Avangrid. Avangrid plans to have 50% of the wind turbines up in early fall and full installation in early 2025.

As noted previously, the Town of Barnstable has retained a third-party independent verification company (Elexana of New York) to verify readings and data if and when needed. https://www.elexana.com/

Elexana Business Solutions
New York City’s EMF/EMI Testing & Consulting Service

139 West 74th Street #4A
New York, New York 10023

Host Community Agreement with Vineyard Wind, LLC.

Vineyard Wind Construction and Operations Plan Approval Letter

MEPA FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT(feir)

MEPA SUPPLEMENTAL DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT (sdeir)

MEPA CONNECTOR CERTIFICATE

DOER Study Cover Letter

Department of Energy Resources Study Cover Letter

Offshore wind transmission cable siting study

WHERE CAN I REPORT A CONCERN?

Avangrid meetings with COMM Water District

Avangrid has held several open negotiation meetings with the COMM Water Commissioners in recent weeks regarding the planned construction work in Centerville for the New England Wind 1 (aka Park City Wind) project.

October 24, 2024