Deepwater avoids legal tangle

Installation of transmission facilities for the 30MW Block Island offshore wind farm is continuing after a US judge denied a request for an injunction to halt the works.

In early May the Narragansett Indian Tribe filed for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction after workers discovered thousands of native artifacts during duct bank excavation on Block Island.

The tribe asked the court to halt construction “to prevent further destruction of the historical sites and further removal of historic artifacts”.

National Grid claimed the company complied with a memorandum of agreement with the tribe and that the artifacts were mostly broken shells.

A federal court judge denied the tribe’s motion at a hearing this week.

The utility said duct bank and manhole work is continuing on Block Island as is construction of a new 34.5kV National Grid substation.

The export submarine cable has been installed on the island and Big Max, the cable-lay barge, is now progressing toward the 30MW wind farm as it installs the remainder of the cable, which is expected to take a week. It will then set the inter-array lines.

On the mainland, crews have wrapped up horizontal directional drilling and will begin to install the transition vault where the 20km submarine cable and the land line will connect.

Meanwhile, liftboats Michael Eymard and Lacie Eymard are performing finishing work at the five jacket foundations.

Developer Deepwater Wind plans to install GE Haliade 6MW turbines this summer and start commercial operation in the fall.

Image: a jacket foundation at the Block Island offshore wind farm (Deepwater Wind)