Energy Musings - January 2, 2026

We surprisingly resolved a mystery about the lack of Vineyard Wind generation data on the EIA website. We have been seeking an answer since August. We relate other issues offshore wind has created.

Vineyard Wind Power Mystery Solved; Others Remain

The Vineyard Wind farm off Nantucket Island is rapidly approaching completion. However, it, along with the other four offshore wind projects under construction along the East Coast, has been ordered to cease work by the Department of the Interior. The order was delivered by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and is designed to allow time for the department to work with the developers to resolve national security issues, primarily radar interference caused by the spinning blades of the wind turbines, raised in Department of War studies. The radar interference issue, which has been known since Denmark installed the first offshore wind farm in the North Sea in 1991, was reviewed in classified Department of Defense reports. The stop-work orders will give the developers and the Interior Department time to agree on mitigation steps.

We will cover more about the stop-work orders and the industry turmoil they are creating in another Energy Musings post. This post, instead, will update the saga of the missing Vineyard Wind generating data from the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) website, which we raised in an earlier Energy Musings. The issue was resolved on Christmas Eve, but it raises another question.

In August, we read an article published by the New Bedford Light about electricity generated by the Vineyard Wind farm. The article, “How many homes does an offshore wind farm actually power?”, examined data on the amount of wind-generated electricity Vineyard Wind had supplied to the New England grid and the number of homes it might power. Reportedly, the article was prompted by reader inquiries about the wind farm’s capacity factor (the portion of nameplate capacity that is actually generated). The article relied on electricity data reported in Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) quarterly reports, available on its website.

FERC data showed a dramatic increase in Vineyard Wind output.

The article prompted us to examine the FERC data and compare it with the offshore wind generation data reported to the EIA. We have been following the EIA’s monthly generating data for the Block Island Wind and Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind farms for years. To our surprise, the EIA had no data for Vineyard Wind in 2025, prompting us to reach out for an explanation.

We were surprised to learn that the EIA was unaware of FERC’s data. Surprisingly, FERC shows power data for Vineyard Wind starting in 4Q2024, along with data for the first two quarters of 2025. (There is now data for 3Q2025).

The head of the EIA’s electricity data detail told us that Vineyard Wind was reporting its status as “under construction.” That status would eventually change to “testing” before it began reporting actual generation data. We asked the EIA how it was possible that data from Vineyard Wind was being reported to FERC and not to EIA.

Even more surprising, as we researched information about Vineyard Wind’s power, was finding a February 22, 2024, press release from the Massachusetts governor’s office titled: “Vineyard Wind, America’s First Large-Scale Offshore Wind Farm, Delivers Full Power from 5 Turbines to the New England Grid.” That was 18 months before the New Bedford Light article!

Additional research produced the foundation for the governor’s press release. It was a press release from Vineyard Wind: “Avangrid, CIP Announce First Power from Nation-Leading Vineyard Wind 1 Project.” That press release was dated January 3, 2024. It noted that “As part of the initial commissioning process, at 11:52 PM on Tuesday, January 2, 2024, one turbine delivered approximately five megawatts of power, with additional testing expected to happen both on and offshore in the coming weeks. The project expects to have five turbines operating at full capacity early in 2024.”

After setting the stage for a successful year, Vineyard Wind made little progress in 2024. Its progress was stymied by the wind turbine blade failure on July 13 that necessitated a construction shutdown, a significant and costly clean-up of the neighboring beaches, an investigation revealing structural failures in blades manufactured at GE Vernova’s plant in Canada, and the requirement to inspect, remove, and replace all previously installed defective blades.

A revised Construction and Operations Plan (COP) was submitted by Vineyard Wind in December 2024 and approved by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) in January 2025. However, a search of records failed to uncover the investigation report for the incident mandated by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), suggesting that the investigation into blade failure remains ongoing.

Based on our email exchange with EIA, the power discussed in the 2024 Vineyard Wind press release could legitimately fall under the testing stage and not be reported. Furthermore, during wind turbine testing, diesel generators are used. Is it possible that the power being provided came from these generators rather than the wind turbine? Therefore, a few months after our initial contact with EIA, we followed up, but we were told that the under-construction status had not changed.

Later, additional media articles about Vineyard Wind delivering more power prompted us to contact EIA again. On December 1, 2025, EIA responded to our inquiry, stating, “Vineyard Wind still reports a status of over 50% complete but not yet testing. Please let us know if [the] respondent data to EIA is inconsistent with other reported data.” That was an acknowledgment of our informing EIA about the FERC data.

Then came the December 22 stop-work order from Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, issued due to classified studies by the Department of War, primarily on wind turbine radar interference. In the letter from BOEM to Vineyard Wind ordering the shutdown of construction activities, it was assured that it could continue to deliver power.

This information prompted us to contact our EIA contact to request a status update on Vineyard Wind. Since we sent our email on Christmas Eve, we were surprised to receive an immediate response, indicating that our contract was working. He wrote, “We’ve been working with Vineyard and they agreed to change their reporting status to TS [testing], which is indicted [sic] in the recent EIA-860M release. Their reluctance to do so was influenced by the desire to report a status that reflect[s] most of the turbines. We indicated that is not consistent with our convention and Vineyard consented to change their reporting practice. As a result, the January 2026 EIA-923 release should include generation data from Vineyard.”

The EIA-860M report is the monthly version of the Form EIA-860 report. Earlier, when we read the EIA-860 report, a section titled “Sanctions” appeared on page 63 of the 64-page report. It discusses the penalties for failure to “timely” submit the mandated information.

“The timely submission of Form EIA 860 by those required to report is mandatory under Section 13(b) of the Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974 (FEAA) (Public Law 93 275), as amended. Failure to respond may result in a civil penalty of not more than $13,273 each day for each violation. The government may bring a civil action to prohibit reporting violations, which may result in a temporary restraining order or a preliminary or permanent injunction without bond. In such civil action, the court may also issue mandatory injunctions commanding any person to comply with these reporting requirements. Title 18 U.S.C. 1001 makes it a criminal offense for any person knowingly and willingly to make to any Agency or Department of the United States any false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements as to any matter within its jurisdiction.”

In our follow-up email exchange, we asked EIA if there would be any “repercussions for failing to report earlier?” We were told the following:

“Vineyard was reporting what they felt was accurate data and they have a point since most of their turbines have not yet reached testing status. However, once we explained the preferred convention, Vineyard agreed to change their practice. I’ve contended with respondents who have intentionally reported inaccurately, but I would not consider Vineyard among them.”

Interestingly, Avangrid, the primary owner and operator of Vineyard Wind, also owns and operates other wind and solar generating facilities for which it reports data. Their argument about “the desire to report a status that reflect[s] most of the turbines” fails in our estimation since they are reporting power to FERC from half the turbines, which we believe equals “most of the turbines.” If their data was being reported to one federal agency, why not report it to both? Was someone else reporting the data, and Avangrid was unaware? That is hard to accept, given its ownership of other reporting generators.

Our concern about EIA’s treatment is that it reflects another example of our bureaucracy’s willingness to overlook offshore wind developers’ failures to comply with the rules. We expressed this view to EIA, but we doubt we will see a response.

Another offshore wind data issue we are investigating is the sudden absence of generation data on the FERC site for Deepwater Block Island Wind, LLC (BIW). This is the 30-megawatt, five-turbine wind farm located off the coast of Block Island, in Rhode Island state waters. It was the first operating offshore wind farm in U.S. waters. Retrieving quarterly data from the FERC website is a tedious process. We have records of data produced by BIW from when it began reporting power data in 2017 to the first quarter of 2023, based on spot-checking interim quarterly data. Since the report shown below, we have found no reported data. Why?

The last data on BIW output we could find on FERC’s website.

We intend to contact BIW for their explanation. However, based on prior experience in which EIA monthly generation data was not reported, we expect the same answer from BIW. In that instance, the BIW representative said they had supplied the monthly generation data to EIA and did not know why it was not posted. We suspect, but cannot prove, that it failed to send the data, and our inquiry prompted them to submit it. The EIA said they post data reported to it. We do not know if our inquiry to EIA prompted them to check with BIW, but the monthly data was ultimately reported, albeit late.

Lastly, we have included several pictures from a friend with a seaside home in Middletown. The images, which we expanded for clarity, are of the Vineyard Wind turbines. Our friend wrote, “At night it is a horizon of flashing red lights, even more disturbing than the daytime view.” You can judge for yourself.

The daytime view of Vineyard Wind turbines.

What the horizon really looks like.

The nighttime view of Vineyard Wind is worse.

The disturbing nighttime light show from Vineyard Wind.

The industrialization of the local waters will upset more people, as their views, recreational activities, and commercial interests are disrupted. They will become angrier as their electricity bills rise to pay for this expensive, part-time power.