NEW BEDFORD – Vineyard Wind has announced that it has integrated all of its installed turbines into the Aircraft Detection Lighting System, addressing a major complaint that the blinking-red wind farm causes light pollution during the night.
The ADLS is a radar-activated lighting system that turns on the Federal Aviation Administration-required lighting only when airplanes are within a specified distance of wind turbines.
Vineyard Wind says this “reduces the nighttime lighting of offshore wind projects while complying with federal aviation safety requirements. With the system active on installed turbines, the ability to visualize the project lighting at night will be significantly reduced.”
“Recognizing that this lighting system is a critical priority for our neighboring island communities, Vineyard Wind has worked hard for the past year to accelerate the deployment and implementation of ADLS across the project as quickly as possible,” said Vineyard Wind CEO Klaus Møller. “This is a complex technology requiring extensive work and coordination between various contractors and construction teams, and I would like to thank them for their efforts in activating this system as commissioning continues. As the project advances, the system will be integrated into additional turbines.”
Vineyard Wind says it is the first offshore wind project to voluntarily commit to installing ADLS once the project reached commercial operations.
After the pause from last summer’s incidents of debris from a broken turbine blade washing ashore on the Cape and Islands, Vineyard Wind appears to be making progress towards its goal of 62 total turbines. Reports last month indicated about two-dozen turbines have now been installed, with more of them joining the power grid.
Wind energy has faced significant criticism from the second presidency of Donald Trump. An executive order temporarily halted offshore wind lease sales in federal waters and paused the issuance of approvals, permits and loans for all wind projects. The Trump Administration has most-recently canceled plans to use large areas of federal waters for new offshore wind development.
More than 3.5 million acres had been designated wind energy areas, the offshore locations deemed most suitable for wind energy development. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is now rescinding all designated wind energy areas in federal waters, announcing an end to setting aside large areas for “speculative wind development.”
Offshore wind lease sales were anticipated off the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Maine, New York, California and Oregon, as well as the central Atlantic.
Material from The Associated Press was used for this story.
By Jim McCabe, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
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