Gov. Maura Healey recently announced her administration’s intention to “go big” on offshore wind. You may think this is somehow about the revival of the Cape Wind project. It is not. Hopes for Cape Wind died in 2015, when it became clear that the project, hounded by ultimately unsuccessful lawsuits, could not obtain financing.

This is a whole different ballgame. The governor intends now for offshore wind to supply an additional 25 per cent of the state’s annual electricity demand. This means that we can expect offshore wind to meet more than half of the state’s annual electricity demand by 2040.

It’s hard to imagine how important this new world of offshore wind will be. The Vineyard Wind project, located south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket and now scheduled to become fully operational next year, is just one illustration of what’s likely to come.

Each of Vineyard Wind’s turbines will stand more than 800 feet tall — more than double the height of the Statue of Liberty — and each blade will extend 350 feet, longer than a football field. A single rotation of one of these blades will power a home for two days.

Massachusetts is uniquely situated for this remarkable feat of technology. For years, our coast has been glibly dubbed the “Saudi Arabia of offshore wind.” The polar jet stream and the subtropical jet stream meet in our neighborhood, accelerating the winds here. Put simply, the southern New England coast is unusually windy.

There are reasonable concerns about the environmental impacts of offshore wind: on birds, on fish and on the fishing industry. Effects on birds can be mitigated by proper siting of turbines.

Regarding the fishing industry, a recent study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (a fishing industry group) reported disagreement on whether offshore wind platforms will be a net attraction or deterrent to fish. It did raise concerns, however, about noise impacts — particularly from construction — and urged further study.

To the extent that offshore wind has any negative impacts on the fishing industry itself, there can be no question about the need for a fair transition. The people involved in the fishing industry, many of whose families have fished for generations, need to have the largest role in designing that transition.

Of course, even gigantic wind turbines on a windy coast can’t generate power when the wind isn’t blowing. Intermittent resources like wind require battery back-up. Additionally, the New England electric grid itself supplies back-up from resources that can be called up at will, such as nuclear and some sorts of hydro power, as well as some amount of natural gas that we will continue to use for the foreseeable future.

But the growth of wind power is not just about climate change. It is also about a reliable energy supply. According to ISO-New England, which operates New England’s electric grid, our region is losing the sorts of traditional generators — nuclear, oil, coal — that can operate during extended periods of cold weather. Meanwhile, the wind here is strongest and most consistent during the winter, when we most need energy for heating. Given changes in the region’s electric mix, offshore wind is a necessity for the continued operation of New England’s electric system.

Offshore wind is also about jobs. According to the U.S. Offshore Wind Workforce Assessment issued by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in 2022, average annual national employment attributable to offshore wind is estimated at 15,000 to 58,000 full-time jobs, depending on the amount of U.S.-manufactured product. Of course, not all of these jobs will be in Massachusetts, but a lot of them will be.

And wind power is definitely about the climate. Electricity generated with renewable resources such as solar and wind is cleaner. That’s why we need to transition from gas furnaces to electric heat pumps, from conventional cars to electric vehicles, and from gas stoves to electric induction cooking.

But electrification makes sense only if the electricity is indeed clean. Solar is great and we need every single megawatt of it that we can get. Offshore wind is another huge resource, especially when close to the big cities, like here in Massachusetts, that demand large amounts of electricity.

And let’s also remember when balancing the need for offshore wind with its environmental impacts that climate change isn’t great for birds, fish or the fishing industry either.

Ann Berwick lives in Chilmark and Newton. She is on the board of Vineyard Power and Island Wind, is the co-director of sustainability for the city of Newton, the former Massachusetts Undersecretary of Energy, and former chair of the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities.