In his annual state of the city speech, New Bedford’s longtime mayor Jon Mitchell expressed a strictly positive outlook for the city’s economy, despite the president’s plans to obstruct the offshore wind industry and deport an unprecedented number of undocumented immigrants. New Bedford’s waterfront includes a pier where offshore wind turbines are assembled and a […]
Vineyard Wind
Posted inBusiness, Environment, Local
Can Trump really shut down the offshore wind industry?
President Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to shut down the offshore wind industry. Before he even took office, the region saw an impact. Last Friday, a company announced it was abandoning plans to build a factory in Somerset that would’ve supplied undersea cables to American offshore wind farms. Then, on Monday, during his first […]
Posted inEnvironment, Local, South Coast Bureau
New Bedford’s next offshore wind play: More office space
New Bedford’s waterfront is already bustling with the colossal maneuvers of offshore wind construction – there are cranes assembling turbines taller than the city’s biggest buildings, and ships arriving with blades as long as football fields. But on Monday, Mayor Jon Mitchell announced the city’s latest play in the industry: creating more office space for […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, Local, South Coast Bureau
Mass. and R.I. to buy power from 3 new offshore wind farms, reviving stalled plans
Massachusetts and Rhode Island officials announced on Friday they plan to buy power from three new offshore wind farms, signaling that energy regulators in both states still consider the renewable energy source economically viable in New England after an industry wide contraction last year. Private utility companies in both states will now negotiate contracts to […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, Local, South Coast Bureau
States to announce Friday if New England is ready for more offshore wind farms
The Captain Les Eldridge used to chase bass and tuna out of New Bedford. Now, the vessel has a new role in the nation’s emerging offshore wind industry. “We’re bringing people out to the offshore wind farms,” said Ed Anthes-Washburn, whose company Coast Line Transfers manages the vessel. “People and stuff.” The Captain Les Eldridge […]
Posted inEnvironment, Local, South Coast Bureau
Fishermen displaced by offshore wind farm apply for compensation
On a recent weekday afternoon, fishermen sat around a large table at the New Bedford Port Authority, learning to fill out an online form that could entitle them to financial compensation from a company that some fishermen have treated as their sworn enemy. Vineyard Wind, the offshore wind developer, is constructing a 62-turbine wind farm […]
Posted inEnvironment, Local, The Weekly Catch
Preparing for coastal erosion, Vineyard Wind to compensate fishermen, and more
Offshore Wind company Vineyard Wind is establishing a fund to pay fishermen for financial losses they may suffer as a result of the wind farm being built near Martha’s Vineyard. As South Coast Bureau Reporter Ben Berke tells us, it’s the first program of its kind in the nation. And the General Assembly is considering a bill that would create a comprehensive plan to deal with threats to the Rhode Island coastline. We hear from bill sponsor State Rep. Tina Spears. Meanwhile, Newport Bureau Reporter Cheryl Hatch talks with a group of residents in Portsmouth that are taking storm and flood preparedness into their own hands. Also, we have a studio session with Keith McCurdy of Providence-based gothic folk band Vudu Sister. Plus: a look back on the week in politics; and a few recommendations on what to do this week.
Posted inEnvironment, Local, South Coast Bureau
Developers seek to get offshore wind back on track with latest bids to New England states
Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island received bids for new wind farms on Wednesday from offshore wind developers seeking to get construction back on track after a string of projects were canceled last year because of rising construction costs. The bids seek to lock in higher electricity prices for offshore wind that manage to strike a […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, South Coast Bureau
How many jobs does an offshore wind farm create?
A new report from Vineyard Wind, the developer building America’s first utility-scale offshore wind farm, offers some of the clearest answers yet to a surprisingly complex question.
Posted inArticle, South Coast Bureau
A decade in the making, parts for America’s first major offshore wind farm arrive in New Bedford
A barge carrying massive turbine components for Vineyard Wind One arrived in New Bedford’s harbor Wednesday afternoon. It was a symbolic step forward for a historic seaport where leaders have spent more than a decade fighting for an early role in America’s emerging offshore wind industry.
