In a historic moment for the American offshore wind industry, the Block Island Wind Farm has reached its “steel in the water” milestone with the installation of the first wind farm foundation component.
Deepwater Wind’s offshore foundation installation contractor set the first, 400-ton steel jacket on the sea floor on Sunday, July 26, at the wind farm site, roughly 3 miles off the Block Island coast. A joint venture between Weeks Marine and Manson Construction is serving as Deepwater Wind’s offshore foundation installation contractor.
Deepwater Wind’s leaders were joined on July 27 by Rhode Island Governor Gina M. Raimondo, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Director Abigail Ross Hopper, the state’s congressional delegation, and more than a hundred other elected officials, leaders of national environmental advocacy organizations, federal and state regulators, Block Islanders, and project supporters to celebrate the milestone during a ferry tour of the offshore construction site.
“We know the world is watching closely what we do here, and we’re incredibly proud to be at the forefront of a new American clean-tech industry launching right here in the Ocean State,” said CEO Jeffrey Grybowski. “This moment has been years in the making – and it’s just the start of something very big.”
This first of five foundation installations kicks off a busy construction period for the 30-MW Block Island Wind Farm. During the roughly eight-week construction period this summer, more than a dozen construction and transport barges, tugboats, crew ships and monitoring vessels will be active at the offshore construction site.
— Source: Deepwater Wind
