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 The Block Island Wind Farm, the nation’s first offshore wind farm, just recently passed into a phase “where they will need to be monitored to ensure they are functioning properly” prior to the wind farm going online. This project has combined many companies throughout the country to support its needs. In the case of monitoring, Duke Energy Renewables will be taking care of providing “around-the-clock ‘remote monitoring and control services, data acquisition, and performance analysis and reporting’” for the newly finished wind farm.
The project, undertaken by Providence, Rhode Island’s Deepwater Wind, consists of five wind turbines about three miles off the shore of Block Island. Soon, the power generation for this small island will mark a large milestone in offshore wind farms—a US farm.
The construction of the wind farm experienced a rocky start—literally—as “uneven and rocky underwater geology” as well as weather combined to slow the foundation building. Installing the wind turbines on the foundations went more smoothly, in part due to the use of liftboats Caitlyn and Paul, owned by Montco Offshore, and the Brave Tern, a 433 ft. liftboat from Norway. Previously, the Brave Tern had installed “200 offshore wind turbines in Europe, including a similarly large Haliade in Belgian waters two years ago.”
The fifth turbine was installed August 18th, and christened by Deepwater Wind CEO Jeff Grybowski in a tweet: “The #BlockIslandWindFarm is now fully constructed. 1st in US.”
However, in an interview, Grybowski notes that their job isn’t done: “The goal wasn’t just to build something, but to build something that produces energy. And I think the steps remaining are very achievable, but I don’t want to lose focus on that.”
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Re: The Nation's First Offshore Wind Farm
