Work officially began on Thursday to build America’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm the 800MW Vineyard Wind 1 on what was hailed as a “historic day” for the US sector.

Developer Vineyard Wind – a joint venture between Iberdrola’s Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners – held a groundbreaking ceremony at the site where cables will make landfall from the project off Massachusetts.

VIP guests including US interior secretary Deb Haaland and Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker attended the event, which fires the starting pistol on what is set to be a national offshore wind boom as the industry chases the 30GW by 2030 goal set by President Joe Biden.