The installation of GE’s Haliade-X 13 MW wind turbines at the Vineyard Wind 1 offshore wind project site in Massachusetts is expected to start next week, according to WCVB Channel 5 Boston and other US media who reported on updates shared by Avangrid’s project team during a boat tour of the Vineyard Wind site earlier this week.
The 806 MW offshore wind farm could feed first power into the grid as soon as mid-October before it is fully commissioned next year, NBC Boston reports .
Vineyard Wind 1, owned by the joint venture between Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), is located 15 miles (24 kilometres) off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard and is the first commercial-scale offshore wind farm to be approved for construction in the US.
The offshore wind farm will feature 62 Haliade-X 13 MW turbines to be installed by DEME using its vessel Sea Installer which, according to the vessel’s AIS data, is currently en route to the port of Halifax, Canada.
DEME’s vessel Orion is currently installing the project’s 62 wind turbine foundations, in a campaign that started in May , and the same vessel was used to install the project’s offshore substation last month.
The wind turbines will be installed out of the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal in Massachusetts, where the first shipment of turbine components arrived in May and the first blades came in on board the Rolldock Sky heavy load vessel in June.
The GE Haliade-X offshore turbines that will spin at Vineyard Wind 1 will have a 220-metre rotor, 107-metre blades and will be 248 metres high.
Once fully operational in mid-2024, the 806 MW offshore wind farm is expected to generate electricity for more than 400,000 homes and businesses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, create 3,600 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) job years, save customers USD 1.4 billion over the first 20 years of operation, and is expected to reduce carbon emissions by more than 1.6 million metric tons per year, the equivalent of taking 325,000 cars off the road annually, according to information shared earlier by Avangrid and CIP.