Rough Seas Delay Block Island Subsea Cable Installation

Adverse sea conditions have pushed back the installation of the 20-mile National Grid submarine cable from Narragansett, Rhode Island, to Block Island by one week.

The cable laying barge Big Max was initially scheduled to install the cable last week, however, rough sea conditions postponed the works and the vessel is expected to start working off the Scarborough Beach later this week.

The subsea cable will export the electricity produced by the first offshore wind farm in US waters, the 30MW Block Island, from Block Island to the mainland.

The Big Max and associated support vessels will be positioned off the shore of Scarborough Beach for a couple of days while the submarine cable is fed through the conduit and into the land/sea transition vault.

Once the cable is secured in the vault, the barge will begin the approximate two week, 20-mile journey to Block Island, burying the cable roughly 4-6 feet below the sea floor.

The Big Max started laying the 8-mile subsea link between the wind farm and Block Island in early May. The works were completed on 27 May.