The Island’s electric supplier is in the process of finishing off a massive $310 million project that is hoped to meet the growing demand of energy on Martha’s Vineyard.
The Island’s electric supplier is in the process of finishing off a massive $310 million project that is hoped to meet the growing demand of energy on Martha’s Vineyard.
Eversource last week said that the first of two new five-plus mile cables between the Island and Falmouth has been laid, and the second is expected to be installed in the coming weeks, depending on the weather.
“We’re in the home stretch,” said Mathew Biron, the director of project management and construction for Eversource.
Construction on the two new electric transmission cables started in December 2023 and the utility has said it is being done to catch up with the increasing energy peaks in the summer months.
For decades, the Island has been getting its power via four undersea cables, and in the summer residents and visitors have gotten a boost from diesel generators.
Eversource moved forward with replacing one of the aging cables and installing a fifth cable in the wake of cracks in the infrastructure in recent years.
In 2021, one of the cables failed, resulting in rolling blackouts on the Vineyard.
The two new 23-kilovolt cables will make landfall in East Chop and West Chop, and will mean the Island will no longer need to rely on the diesel generators.
A 2024 report from the Martha’s Vineyard Commission found that electrical use on the Island had increased by 17 per cent in the prior 10 years, and that was expected to continue to rise as more households adopt electric as a main source of power.
“It’s to meet the growing needs for electric vehicles and home heating,” said Mr. Biron.
Eversource had previously dug trenches for the new cables and Islanders may have seen the cable laying barge off the north shore earlier this month while the first cable is installed.
After the second one is laid, Eversource will work on the onshore connections and begin integrity testing.
“Once that happens, it’s just about connecting that to the grid,” Mr. Biron said.
Connection is expected to be made during the first quarter of 2026, but if all goes according to plan, Islanders won’t notice anything.
“If we are doing our job right, you should notice nothing,” Mr. Biron said. “The impact is really going to be in the avoidance in a reliability issue.”
The cost of the construction will be shared by customers across eastern Massachusetts and will not appear in bills until the project is complete, Eversource had told the Gazette in past interviews. The Department of Public Utilities will conduct a review of the project as part of a rate distribution review in the future. The costs will be spread out across the life of the project in order to minimize impacts to customers, an Eversource official said.
Comments
This is a very important
Jim EdgartownThis is a very important project, in fact they should have done more lines. We have such a demand for power. Solar and windmill's just can’t do it….
But we are importing solar
Tim Johnson TisburyBut we are importing solar andwind power on the existing cables aleady. And more energy from those sources to come
Vineyard 1, and batteries,
Albert GosnoldVineyard 1, and batteries, can supply ten times the Island's electrical needs, standalone.
Will they carry wind turbine
Albert GosnoldWill they carry wind turbine electricity?
Bravo to Caldwell Marine for
Cousto Fair HorizonsBravo to Caldwell Marine for the underwater install.
Wondering if they did this in
Niki Patton West TisburyWondering if they did this in concert with Comcast, who originally said they could not afford to lay fiber-optic on the Island -- it just wasn't cost effective if one included laying the cable across the waters. But now, voila, they've been installing. It's here,
There are many fiber cable
Tim Johnson TisburyThere are many fiber cable coming to the island already.
And there is a backbone of fiber on the island.
It does not go to individual homes at this time
To me the math doesn’t work
John Aldeborgh KatamaTo me the math doesn’t work here when we consider renewables as an alternative. For the same $310M solar could have been installed on roughly 10,300 homes, assuming a family size of 3 people, that should comfortably allow free solar conversion for every home occupied by year round residents (a bonus in my opinion).
I speak from experience as I have a relative on island who put solar on his home 4 years ago, costing them slightly less than $30K, which generates more electricity than they consume. Add to this the cost of both solar panels and energy storage have only come down.
I’ve honestly been a renewables skeptic, until I installed it on our winter home in the USVI, which has the highest electricity costs in the country, as well as a very unreliable grid.
One more interesting fact is the seasonality of the problem. The summer months are the months of maximum energy usage, which are also the months of year with the most sunlight hours.
I can’t help but think we missed an opportunity.
Must be why my last months
SC west TisburyMust be why my last months bill was already &600,more than half is delivery cost.I understand the need,but hard on Seniors,and lower income families.
Where should the money come
Albert GosnoldWhere should the money come from?
As you cheer the demise of
Caitlin Oak BluffsAs you cheer the demise of these windmills, think about the seas that will continue to rise, the people digging up coal that will continue to get black lung, and the people who cannot afford the continuing rise of electricity prices.
Great to see all this
Hans New JerseyGreat to see all this technical improvement but I don’t think it will change our cost. With no one home and the thermostat at 55 from mid November to mid December the invoice was almost $400!!! It is what it is.
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