GE goes local at Block Island

Deepwater Wind and GE are establishing a new temporary manufacturing facility at the Port of Providence for the assembly of turbine components for the Block Island wind farm. 

GE, which recently joined forces with Alstom’s offshore wind unit, is supplying the 6MW Haliade 150 offshore turbines for the Block Island wind farm.

The first five out of a total of 15 tower sections are expected to arrive this week by ship in Providence.

The 95-foot tall sections will be off-loaded at the new temporary manufacturing facility at the port.

Over the next six months, GE will install the critical electrical, mechanical and safety equipment within the bottom tower sections.

The remaining tower sections will arrive in Rhode Island next year.

About 60 local workers will be involved in this part of the project, with local contractors involved including Aladdin Electric, Bay Crane New England, Essex Newbury, EW Audet & Sons, Aero Mechanical Inc., Waterson Terminal Services, GZA GeoEnvironmental, VHB, and Fuss & O’Neill. 

In total, more than 300 local workers will be involved with building America’s first offshore wind farm.

The assembly activities at ProvPort will complement construction and staging work completed at Quonset Point, in North Kingstown.

Fabrication of some of the foundation components was completed by local welders at Quonset’s Specialty Diving Services in early 2015, and the port continues to host construction and repair work and vessel staging for the wind farm. Quonset will also host the project’s long-term operations and maintenance facility.

Deepwater Wind has completed installation of the five steel jacket foundations and pile driving for those foundations. Installation of the deck platforms is expected to finish in the coming weeks. 

Submarine cable installation is scheduled to begin in the spring of 2016, with erection of the five offshore wind turbines set for the summer of 2016. The project is scheduled to be in-service and generating power in the fourth quarter of 2016.

Deepwater Wind chief executive officer Jeffrey Grybowski said: “This work at ProvPort brings one of the world’s most innovative companies to the City of Providence.

“And, just as important, we’re putting more Rhode Islanders to work and giving them the experience they need to help grow this industry.”   

Image: all five jacket foundations are now in place at block island (Deepwater Wind)