Block Island Off Shore Wind Farm

Block Island Wind Farm is the first commercial offshore wind farm in the United States, located from Block Island, Rhode Island in the Atlantic Ocean. The five-turbine, 30 MW project was developed by Deepwater Wind. Construction began in 2015 and in late summer 2016 five Alstom Haliade 150-6-MW turbines were erected. Operations were launched in December 2016. It is the largest project using wind power in Rhode Island.Design and capacityA project of Deepwater Wind, Block Island Wind Farm is located about 3.3nmi southeast of Block Island, becoming the first offshore wind farm in the United States. The thirty-megawatt, five-turbine demonstration project is expected to produce more than 125,000 megawatt hours annually. Power is transmitted from the turbines to the electric grid, along a 21mi transmission submarine power cable buried under the ocean floor, making landfall north of Scarborough Beach in Narragansett. The structures, designed by Alstom Wind, stand and can withstand a Category 3 storm. The system connects New Shoreham to the grid for the first time and allows it to cease using diesel generators which have been replaced with power from the cable supplying the island. Gulf Island Fabrication was interested in building the foundations.