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(BOSTON) – Vineyard Offshore, America’s leading offshore wind development company, today highlighted the benefits of its proposed 1,200 megawatt (MW) Vineyard Wind 2 project for innovative climatetech companies in Massachusetts. Should the project be selected in solicitations now pending in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, Vineyard Offshore will invest $3 million to drive innovation in the offshore wind industry in support of the Healey Administration’s goal of making Massachusetts a climate innovation lab for the world.  

“Vineyard Offshore is invested in realizing Governor Healey’s vision of Massachusetts as a global climatetech hub,” said Alicia Barton, CEO of Vineyard Offshore. “Offshore wind is a cornerstone of Massachusetts’ clean energy leadership, and we are proud to support the state’s continued leadership with investments in climate innovation in our next project.”  

Vineyard Offshore has executed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with The Engine Accelerator, a public benefit corporation spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2016 with the purpose of supporting startups creating breakthrough inventions to address the planet’s most challenging problems. Under the MOU, which is contingent on receiving an award for Vineyard Wind 2, Vineyard Offshore will provide $450,000 in funding to The Engine Accelerator to become a network partner and support the commercialization of innovative, early-stage technologies for the offshore wind sector while simultaneously supporting the entry of diverse and women-owned businesses into the offshore wind supply chain.

“We are proud to work with Vineyard Offshore to support commercialization of climatetech,” said Emily Knight, President, The Engine Accelerator. “Vineyard Offshore is a natural partner for the founders and teams taking on the biggest challenges in the energy transition. We are grateful for their support and leadership.”

In addition, Vineyard Offshore will provide specific support to two startups in Engine Ventures’ portfolio through its Vineyard Wind 2 project. Engine Ventures is a venture firm focused on investing in the next generation of Tough Tech founders to take on the biggest challenges facing society, including those working on climatetech.

• Sublime Systems, Inc.: Based in Somerville, Sublime Systems is commercializing a breakthrough process to make low-carbon cement that performs like traditional cement. Currently, production of cement accounts for roughly 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Vineyard Offshore has executed a reservation agreement with Sublime Systems to source 2,000 tons of Sublime Cement^TM from the company’s planned production facility in Holyoke, Mass. To be used in working platforms on turbines and onshore civil works, this order of low-carbon cement will reduce the carbon footprint of the Vineyard Wind 2 project while helping Sublime Systems grow in its home state.
• VEIR, Inc.: Woburn-based VEIR is commercializing its patented technology for cooling superconducting materials, which, would enable deployment of superconducting overhead and long-distance transmission lines capable of carrying five to 10 times the capacity of conventional copper/aluminum conductors at any given voltage. This would help to solve the increasingly challenging problem of limited capacity in the New England grid while reducing the number of disruptive civil works needed to carry offshore wind energy to points of interconnection. Under the letter of intent (LOI) signed with the company, subject to a project award, Vineyard Offshore would provide funding for a demonstration project to showcase and mature VEIR’s technology for adoption by future offshore wind projects injecting power into the ISO-New England grid.

"We are honored to welcome Vineyard Offshore as a future customer of Sublime Systems, as the proliferation of clean energy inspired our founding and mission to decarbonize cement,” said Dr. Leah Ellis, Founder and CEO, Sublime Systems. “This substantial order, contingent on award of the Vineyard Wind 2 project, will aid in seeding clean energy manufacturing in Massachusetts. The growth of renewable energy like Vineyard’s underscores the impact of public sector investment in the technologies essential for our energy transition, in turn creating a virtuous cycle of increased demand for renewable electricity as the next generation of decarbonization technologies scales.”

“I appreciate Vineyard Offshore’s commitment to innovation in transmission technology,” said Tim Heidel, CEO, VEIR. “I look forward to working with Vineyard Offshore to demonstrate the value of superconducting transmission lines for offshore wind development in New England.”  

“These partners are early, bold movers in climatetech innovation and we’re proud to stand with them at the forefront of the Commonwealth’s burgeoning climatetech leadership,” said Barton. “We are eager to help that industry grow and contribute to the state’s economy by supporting technology innovation through our Vineyard Wind 2 project.”

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About Vineyard Offshore  

Vineyard Offshore, an affiliate of CIP, is leading the development of two lease areas in the Northeast, OCS-A 522, known as Vineyard Northeast, located off the coast of Massachusetts and OCS-A 544, known as Vineyard Mid-Atlantic and home to the Excelsior Wind Project, located in the New York Bight. Additionally, the company is working to develop a project off the coast of Humboldt County in Northern California, in lease area OCS-P 0562. Combined with its joint venture development of the first-in-the-nation offshore wind project, Vineyard Wind, now under construction, Vineyard Offshore has the potential to develop more than 6 gigawatts of clean, renewable, and affordable energy on the East and West Coasts of the United States.  To learn more, visit: www.vineyardoffshore.com.  

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Media Contact: press@vineyardoffshore.com