‘One Turbine to Go’ | Stop-Work Order Could Cost Vineyard Wind 1 the Vessel Needed to Install Its Final Turbine

Only one wind turbine is left to be installed at the Vineyard Wind 1 site off Massachusetts, according to the project owner’s complaint filed with the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The 806 MW was planned to be completed by 31 March and start delivering power at full capacity to the state’s grid when the US Department of the Interior (DOI) issued a stop-work order.

The offshore wind farm’s completion is now in jeopardy with the government’s 90-day suspension, since the vessel that is being used for installation has been contracted for a period under the current project schedule that has 31 March as the completion date, the Vineyard Wind joint venture says in the complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief submitted on 15 January.

Vineyard Wind 1 is 95 per cent completed, with 61 of the total 62 GE Haliade-X 13 MW wind turbines installed and the offshore and onshore electrical infrastructure necessary to deliver power to the New England grid ready.

The offshore wind farm is currently capable of producing electricity from approximately 572 MW of installed capacity coming from 44 operational wind turbines, with additional capacity originally scheduled to come online over the coming weeks as more wind turbines are put into operation, the developer said in the filing.

Offshore work left to be done consists primarily of installing the one remaining wind turbine, replacing blades on ten wind turbines, and bringing the remaining 18 wind turbines online.

As of 21 December 2025, the date before Vineyard Wind received the suspension order, the project was on schedule to be completed by 31 March 2026, bringing the wind farm to its planned 800 MW capacity from 62 wind turbines, the developer says.

However, the stop-work order is now jeopardising the completion plan, as a crucial vessel, DEME’s jack-up vessel Sea Installer, which GE Vernova is using for the installation of wind turbines, is chartered under the project’s current timeline.

“This vessel is highly specialized and specifically designed for this work. Loss of access to this vessel would jeopardize completion of the Project. Sea Installer is secured by contract for the term necessary to complete the Project on the current schedule, which, prior to the Order, anticipated completing the remaining offshore work before March 31, 2026”, Vineyard Wind states in the complaint.

“If Vineyard Wind does not complete the remaining offshore work before March 31, 2026, it will lose access to Sea Installer. This vessel is critical to the Project’s completion because the Project’s remaining offshore installation, blade installation, and startup activities depend on using that vessel.”

Vineyard Wind 1 began producing electricity from its first wind turbines in February 2024 and became the largest operating wind farm in the US in June that same year.

While the stop-work order sent to Vineyard Wind on 22 December 2025 suspends construction activities on the project, the DOI’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has allowed the developer to continue activities related to the wind farm’s already operating wind turbines.

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