Massachusetts’ Governor Deval Patrick has stated that the time has come to see the first offshore wind farm in America rise off the Massachusetts coast.

“Massachusetts has done its job to give this project a long and thorough review on the merits, and the federal review process is winding to a close,” said Patrick, who shared his views as the state Energy Facilities Siting Board finalised a Certificate of Environmental Impact and Public Interest granting all of the state and local permits necessary for the Cape Wind Associates wind energy project to proceed to construction.  

The Siting Board voted 7-0 to grant the Certificate, with minor modifications. Undersecretary for Energy Ann Berwick, who serves as Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles’s designee as chair of the Siting Board, signed the revised Certificate.

The Certificate, or composite permit, brings to completion more than seven years of environmental review and permitting for Cape Wind at the state and local level.

With impacts and benefits analysed, mitigation commitments in hand and permitting complete, this project is ready to move forward, said Secretary Bowles.

Cape Wind Associates LLC, a privately funded Boston-based energy company, has proposed constructing 130 wind turbines over 24 square miles (62 sq km) in Nantucket Sound, within view of the wealthy Cape Cod resort region of Massachusetts.

Cape Wind Associates filed an Initial Petition for a Certificate, or composite permit, from the Energy Facilities Siting Board on November 21, 2007, followed by an Application for a Certificate on December 28, 2007, after being denied a Development of Regional Impact (DRI) permit by the Cape Cod Commission for the transmission cables connecting the Cape Wind wind farm, which would be located in federal waters, with the electricity grid on the mainland.