First Block Island Turbine Parts Arrive in Providence Port

The first five of total 15 tower sections arrived Wednesday at the Port of Providence, where Deepwater Wind and General Electric (GE) are setting up a new temporary facility for the assembly of turbine components for the Block Island Wind Farm. 

GE recently acquired Alstom’s offshore wind unit and is thus in charge of supplying the Haliade 6MW offshore wind turbine for the first offshore wind farm in the U.S.

Over the next six months, GE will install the critical electrical, mechanical, and safety equipment within the bottom tower sections – the sections that arrived this week. The remaining tower sections will arrive in Rhode Island next year.

Approximately 60 local workers will be involved in this aspect of the project. GE and Deepwater Wind have teamed up with several local contractors to assist with this work. More than 300 local workers will be involved in building America’s first offshore wind farm, Deepwater said in a press release.

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

Meanwhile, Deepwater Wind is capping off the first offshore construction season at the project site off the coast of Block Island.

Since the first “steel in the water” in July, 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 be completed 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.

Image: Jeff Grybowski/Deepwater Wind