Commonwealth Wind builds upon and integrates with the thorough offshore siting analysis and extensive input from federal and state officials and many stakeholders done for the Vineyard Wind 1 and Park City Wind offshore wind projects.

During the permitting of Vineyard Wind 1, it was agreed that there be a single corridor approximately 1,500 feet in width to lay the electric cables from all the projects in the lease area owned by Avangrid and its partner for the Vineyard Wind 1 project, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. This corridor is shown in the map below and calls for the cables to run from the lease area to the east of Muskeget Channel and to proceed to the north from that point. Using this single corridor minimizes disturbance to the seabed by avoiding laying cables in many different locations and directions in Nantucket Sound or other water bodies.

Given this agreed upon corridor, Cape Cod is the appropriate general landing area and Barnstable is the optimal specific landing location. This is due to a second key fact—that the project needs to be able to connect to a substation to place the power into the electric grid. The existing Eversource substation in West Barnstable has the capacity to receive the 1,200+ Megawatts (MW) from the project and Commonwealth Wind has the “queue position” to connect at this substation. This queue position means that Commonwealth Wind is ahead in line of any other entity that would seek to use the capacity at this substation. There is no location on Cape Cod or any other coastal location in which Commonwealth Wind has the option of connecting up to 1,200+ MW other than the existing West Barnstable Eversource substation.

Given the substation location in West Barnstable, a landing in Barnstable is best because of the relatively short distance from the landing to the substation, and the presence of public roads under which the cables can be buried.

By working cooperatively with offshore wind projects, the Town of Barnstable and its residents gain numerous benefits, including leading the way on the fight to slow climate change and reduce harmful CO2 emissions.

The town will receive $16 million each for the Vineyard Wind 1 and Park City Wind projects, in addition to personal property taxes. For both projects, Avangrid is coordinating the installation of the necessary underground utility projects with installation of Town of Barnstable sewer projects. Additionally, Avangrid will pay for the final paving and recoating of the public roads impacted. This coordinated work is saving the Town of Barnstable millions of dollars in construction costs.

Avangrid hopes to provide similar benefits to the Town of Barnstable and pursue similar coordination of underground utility and sewer installation, for Commonwealth Wind. Additionally, Avangrid will be investing millions of dollars to upgrade the electrical grid on Cape Cod, benefitting all Barnstable residents with a more reliable electric grid.

Commonwealth Wind is currently engaged in permitting at the federal, state, regional, and local level and is consulting with tribal and local agencies. You can learn more about these permits here.

No. The offshore wind turbines will be located in federal waters over 35 miles from Barnstable’s coastline. They will be located in a federally designated wind lease area on the outer continental shelf south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.

No, Avangrid will coordinate closely with the Town of Barnstable on the planned installation of a municipal sewer line along the onshore route to minimize disruption and defray some of the Town’s sewer line roadwork costs. Further, Avangrid will work with the Centerville-Osterville-Marstons Mills Water District on water main relocation and replacement as needed. Avangrid will plan its duct bank instillation around existing National Grid gas lines.

For all Avangrid offshore wind projects, it is preferable to stage construction at an existing, large parking lot at a public beach; a large parking lot is especially needed to stage the heavy equipment needed for the horizontal directional drilling operation which allows for cable vaults to be placed approximately fifty feet below the beach and land under the paved parking lot. By using a parking lot, which is connected to public roadways, Avangrid significantly reduces potential damage to coastal resources.

Avangrid has completed three separate siting investigations for landings in Barnstable, first for Vineyard Wind 1, second for Park City Wind, and third for Commonwealth Wind. The first siting analysis determined that Covell’s Beach was an optimal location, and it was selected for Vineyard Wind 1. That beach could not also accommodate the Park City Wind project, and hence Craigville Beach was selected for the second project. Craigville Beach cannot also accommodate the Commonwealth Wind project, and so Avangrid evaluated a third location. The best location of all remaining alternatives is Dowses Beach, due to the large parking lot and connection to public roadways for cable placement. There is no comparable site with these characteristics.

No. By using trenchless Horizontal Directional Drill (HDD) methods, cable casing pipe installation begins from the parking lot and tunnels underneath the beach to a depth of approximately 50 feet at the tideline to a point approximately 1000 feet offshore. This minimizes disturbance to the beach or the nearshore area. Deep and permanent burial inside a casing pipe under the beach will also mean that the cables pose virtually no risk of exposure, especially given Dowses Beach is a stable accreting beach (the opposite of eroding).

During installation, two portions of the Dowses Beach parking lot will be temporarily fenced off and excavated, in phases, to install the transition vaults underneath the parking lot and install the cable casing pipe deep under the beach.

The beach parking lot will be accessible during construction work, with the exception of a 4 to 6 week period in the winter when Avangrid will be installing the duct bank underneath the East Bay Road causeway.

Park City Wind will have onshore utility infrastructure in Barnstable; an interactive map of the two potential routes can be found above on this webpage. Avangrid will propose both routes through the permitting process.

• Main Street

  • Dowses Beach Causeway

  • East Bay Road or Wianno Avenue

  • Main Street

  • Osterville/West Barnstable Road

  • Old Falmouth Road

  • Old Stage Road

  • Oak Street

  • Service Road

• Old Mill Road

  • Dowses Beach Causeway

  • East Bay Road

  • Old Mill Road

  • Bumps River Road

  • Lumbert Mill Rd where it converges with the “Main Street” route at Old Falmouth Rd.

Upon completion, the parking lot and roadways will be repaved in a full curb to curb restoration at no cost to the town. There will be manhole covers in the roadway and manhole covers in the Dowses Beach parking lot for utility access.