ASSOCIATED PRESS • February 17, 2022
The site of a former coal-fired power plant in Somerset will be transformed into the first offshore wind manufacturing facility in Massachusetts, Gov. Charlie Baker announced Thursday. The state’s last coal-fired power plant, Brayton Point, closed in 2017 as environmental groups pushed for cleaner sources of energy generation. An Italian cable manufacturing company, Prysmian Group, finalized an agreement to acquire a 47-acre parcel at the site to make subsea transmission cables that will bring power generated by offshore wind to the electrical grid. A separate offshore wind project off the coast of Massachusetts, Vineyard Wind, is moving forward as the nation’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm. The nearly $3 billion project is a critical part of the Biden administration’s plan to grow renewable energy in the U.S. It’s a joint venture of Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.