Federal officials designate area for wind farm off Martha’s Vineyard; area could someday sprout with hundreds of turbines

By David Abel, Globe Staff

Federal officials today designated a large swath of ocean about 14 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard where they hope to see a massive wind farm built that could dwarf the size of Cape Wind, the long-stalled wind project planned for Nantucket Sound.

After two years of meetings with local and state officials, environmental groups, Native Americans, and others, officials at the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said they are launching an environmental assessment of about 1,300 square miles that could give rise within several years to hundreds of towering wind turbines.

They said the area could produce as much as 10 times the amount of electricity as Cape Wind – which covers about 25 square miles – or enough to power up to 70 percent of homes in Massachusetts.

“There is great potential here, because there is a lot of wind,” said Tommy P. Beaudreau, the bureau’s director, on a visit today to the state’s Wind Technology Testing Center in Charlestown.

Beaudreau said the meetings since late 2009 resulted in the agency’s decision to reduce by 50 percent the area where an offshore wind farm could be built.

He said they have also helped air concerns about everything from migrating whales and birds to the routes fishermen use to trawl for scallops and other fish.

“Our efforts to identify promising wind energy areas and … address conflicts will pay enormous dividends in the future,” he said. “The heavy lifting by the task force to get us to today will minimize the conflicts that can threaten to derail or delay projects like these.”

He said he expected an environmental review to be finished within a year and that the agency would seek bids on potential projects in the area shortly afterward.