The developer of the nation’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm installed the first steel foundation for the project off Rhode Island’s coast.
Advertisement
“This is something we’ve been working toward for seven years, so this is a pretty significant moment for us”, said Jeffrey Grybowski, CEO of Deepwater Wind, said of the $225 million project.
Alstom Haliade wind turbines.
Several months afterward, the project should yield 30 megawatts of electric power, powering the 17,000 homes on Block Island, 12 miles from the mainland and now using expensive diesel fuel to make its electricity.
Offshore wind projects have been delivering power in Europe since the 1990s, with almost 2,500 turbines connected to the grid, but they have struggled to gain a foothold in the United States due to worries about cost, the aesthetics of towering wind turbines within view of the coasts and the impact on birds and whales.
Block Island was chosen as a wind power site by the state in 2007 to help solve its energy issues and it was this built-in government and local support, plus the small size of the project, that helped get it off the ground, according to Grybowski. Other offshore wind projects are in limbo off Delaware, New Jersey and New York.
The project reached financial close early this year, thanks to French bank Societe Generale (EPA:GLE) and the KeyBank National Association of Cleveland, Ohio.
“This is very exciting for Rhode Island”, said U.S. Rep. David N. Cicilline, a Rhode Island Democrat.
“Block Island Wind Farm will not only tap into the enormous power of the Atlantic’s coastal winds to provide reliable, affordable and clean energy to Rhode Islanders, but will also serve as a beacon for America’s sustainable energy future”.
Advertisement
Deepwater Wind’s goal is to have the Block Island offshore wind farm up and running in the autumn of 2016. It holds a 30-year lease on a parcel in federal waters about 15 miles (24 km) southwest of Martha’s Vineyard with room for as many as 250 turbines.
