Vineyard Wind 1 offshore wind farm boss to lead CIP-Avangrid joint venture

The Vineyard Wind joint venture of Danish investors Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and Iberdrola subsidiary Avangrid Renewables has announced the project developer of their flagship US offshore wind farm will take over as CEO.

Klaus Moeller, who has served as project director of the 800MW Vineyard Wind 1 Vineyard Wind 1 (800MW) Offshoreoff Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, USA, North America Click to see full details wind farm since 2019, will replace Lars Pedersen as Vineyard Wind CEO.

A US fishing group recently filed a lawsuit against the federal government, arguing environmental regulations were “shortcut” when it approved the Vineyard Wind 1 project.

Pedersen will remain on Vineyard Wind’s board and shift his focus to CIP’s US-based offshore wind development. This includes the federal lease area OCS-A 522, which CIP believes can eventually support up to 2.5GW of offshore wind capacity, and could supply power to New York and Massachusetts.

CIP and Avangrid Renewables had recently divided their US offshore wind assets to focus on their own expansion plans.

Located 24km off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, their Vineyard Wind 1 project will be the first commercial-scale offshore wind farm in the US. It is expected to deliver first power to the grid in 2023.

Beyond the Vineyard Wind 1 project, the joint venture currently has no plans to develop further projects, a spokesman confirmed.