US offshore developer Deepwater Wind expects to install the final deck at the 30MW Block Island wind farm in Rhode Island “within a week or two,” said Block Island manager Bryan Wilson.
“We’ve got four of these decks on and we’ve got one more to go,” said Wilson during a US offshore wind webinar by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Montco Offshore’s 185-foot lift boat Robert is setting the decks on jacket foundations, where crews weld them directly to piles that have been driven 200 feet into the seabed.
Inclement weather in the northeast makes installation using crane barges difficult and the Robert, which normally works in the Gulf of Mexico, “is very much a game changer,” said Wilson. “The ability to negate the sea state factor has proven to be helpful.”
Five bottom tower sections arrived yesterday by ship in the Port of Providence, where GE will install electrical, mechanical and safety equipment over the next six months.
The remaining tower sections and turbine components for five Haliade 150 6MW machines will arrive next year. “The blades are complete and the nacelles are well on their way,” said Wilson.
On-land interconnection construction is expected to begin in January with duct bank and substation work on Block Island and in Narragansett.
Submarine cables will be laid next spring and the Fred Olsen Windcarrier will install the turbines over the summer.
“We’re looking to flip the switch in late 2016,” said Wilson.
The Block Island pilot project lies west of the developer’s 1GW Deepwater ONE commercial lease area.
“It provides an opportunity for regulatory agencies and stakeholder groups to develop a level of comfort on a small scale before we move on to the larger project,” said Wilson.
Block Island is creating more than 300 construction jobs, which will have a multiplier affect, said Wilson. “We’re developing a core group of folks who will be able to move on to the larger projects and help train more people as the industry develops.”
Image: (Deepwater Wind)
