BREAKING: Offshore Construction of First U.S. Offshore Wind Farm Kicks Off

Block Island Wind Farm, the U.S. first offshore wind project, has entered the offshore construction phase, according to Jeff Grybowski, Deepwater Wind’s CEO.

“Heading offshore – ready to build,” Grybowski wrote on his social media page today.

The main installation vessel, the Weeks 533, was mobilized for work this weekend following the arrival of wind turbine foundations at the construction site.

At the beginning of this month, the first foundations were loaded onto a barge and sent from Louisiana, where they were constructed by Gulf Island Fabrication.

Foundations will be installed three miles (4.8 kilometres) southeast of Block Island in the following 8 weeks.

The installation of cables and wind turbines is scheduled to take place in a year from now and the first American offshore wind farm is expected to be operational in fall 2016.

Offshore WIND Staff; Image: Deepwater Wind (Weeks 533)