Construction on the Vineyard Wind Project, the first large-scale offshore wind farm in the United States, is expected to begin now that its backers have secured $ 2.3 billion in funding from nine international and US banks.

Vineyard Wind said that with the new funding, the company will start up its main offshore wind farm on a commercial scale, despite the recent lawsuit filed in the United States First Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, which is a group of commercial fishermen, has filed a lawsuit challenging the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) decision to approve the project. They argue that offshore wind farms could have adverse effects on the ocean environment and the fishing industry.

Vineyard Wind plans to begin the project onshore this fall in Barnstable, Mass., With the offshore segment of the work starting in 2022. The company expects electricity from the Vineyard Wind 1 facility to be delivered to the grid in 2023.

Vineyard Wind is a joint venture between Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP). Vineyard CEO Lars Pederson said “Completing the financing is an important step as we can finally move from offshore wind to providing electricity on a commercial scale in the United States.” He added that the company has everything in place to start construction and will create new jobs soon.

The Vineyard Wind project was approved in May in a landmark licensing decision that significantly advanced the Biden administration’s offshore wind energy ambitions. The White House hopes to increase US offshore wind capacity from 42 MW to 30,000 MW by 2030. The administration’s plan aims to fully convert the US economy to clean energy by 2050 with the goal of to fight against climate change.

In approving Vineyard Wind’s final permit application, BOEM said the project creates a roadmap for the future of innovative offshore wind industry development.

Vineyard Wind 1 is an 800 MW project located 15 miles offshore from Martha’s Vineyard. It will generate enough electricity for more than 400,000 homes and businesses, and its supporters say it will save taxpayers $ 1.4 billion in the first 20 years of operation and reduce carbon emissions. of more than 1.6 million tonnes per year.

The wind farm project will include 84 wind turbines, which will be installed in an east-west orientation with a minimum spacing of one nautical mile between them. Supporters of the adjacent wind farm proposals have agreed to maintain the same one-mile layout to make it easier for ships to navigate throughout the region, and the U.S. Coast Guard has given the arrangement a positive review.