The first foundation was laid for the US’s first offshore wind farm, 3nm off the coast of Rhode Island, the company behind it, Deepwater Wind, announced on social media Sunday, 26 July.
The Weeks 533 crane barge lowered a 400-ton steel jacket foundation in 100ft of water to mark the beginning of construction on the 30MW Block Island Wind Farm, a US$290 million project that aims to be online by 4Q 2016.
US Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Director Abigail Ross Hopper, Rhode Island Governor Gina M. Raimondo were in attendance at the “steel in the water” ceremony held Monday.
“Interior is proud to be a partner in this historic milestone for offshore renewable energy,” Secretary Jewell said. “Deepwater Wind and Rhode Island officials have demonstrated what can be accomplished through a forward-looking vision and good working partnerships. Block Island Wind Farm will not only tap into the enormous power of the Atlantic’s coastal winds to provide reliable, affordable and clean energy to Rhode Islanders, but will also serve as a beacon for America’s sustainable energy future.”
Gulf Island Fabrication constructed the project’s five steel jacket foundations at its Houma, Louisiana, facility. Rhode Island-based Specialty Diving Services provided fabrication work on components of the foundation substructures at its Quonset Point facility. Alstom is expected to supply five Haliade 150 6MW offshore wind turbines, which it fabricated in Denmark. In January 2014, Deepwater Wind selected Fred. Olsen’s Windcarrier’s Bold Tern, a self-propelled jackup, to carry out installation of the project’s five wind turbines.
At 589ft above sea level, the turbines will be among the tallest in the world, the US Department of the Interior (DOI) said. The project is expected to power about 17,000 homes. The facility will provide electricity directly from the wind farm to Block Island. Because the island uses only 1MW of power in the off-season and 4MW in the summer peak season, the remaining 90% of the energy produced during the off season will be sent to other state customers via a 25mi bi-directional submerged transmission cable between Block Island and the Rhode Island mainland.
The wind farm will produce more than 100 million kilowatt hours of clean energy annually, according to DOI.
NOIA President Randall Luthi praised the start of construction at Block Island.
“It is gratifying that Deepwater Wind chose NOIA member company Gulf Island Fabrication for the off-site construction of the foundations for this project, which is on course to be America’s first offshore wind farm,” he said. “It is also fitting that a company best known for fabricating offshore oil and gas structures played a role in constructing this historic project. NOIA has long supported an all-of-the-above offshore energy strategy, and we look forward to seeing more partnerships between offshore renewable companies and offshore oil and gas companies made possible by the success of the Department of the Interior’s offshore wind leasing program.”
Submarine cable installation is scheduled to begin spring 2016 and erection of the five Alstom Haliade 6 MW offshore wind turbines is scheduled for summer 2016.
Photo from Jeff Grybowski
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