Massachusetts argued against them. Virginia found them difficult to finance. Tiny Rhode Island and its even tinier
Block Island will become the first place where offshore in the U.S., wind turbines provide power.
The Block Island Wind Farm will be a 30 megawatt offshore wind farm roughly three miles southeast of Block Island, RI. Construction started in July with something Deepwater called "steel in the water," when all five windmill foundations began installation.
Block Island residents are thrilled with the wind turbines because they pay some of the highest utility rates and are likely to save a lot of money. Block Island currently powers electricity with diesel generators. Islanders pay 60 cents a kilowatt hour. Estimates are that they will save at least 40 percent, which means islanders will still be paying 36 cents a kilowatt hour. Those rates are still higher than many other areas of the country.
In many ways, the Block Island wind farm is an international project:
- Financing for the $290 million project financing came from Mandated Lead Arrangers Societe Generale of Paris, France, and KeyBank National Association of Cleveland, Ohio.
- Alstom is supplying five Haliade 150 6 MW offshore wind turbines for the project and has already completed the fabrication in Denmark of all 15 blades for the project.
- Gulf Island Fabrication, Inc., began fabrication work in January 2015 at its facilities in Houma, Louisiana, on the wind farm's five steel jacket foundations.
- Rhode Island-based Specialty Diving Services is expected is doing additional fabrication work on components of the foundation substructures at Quonset, RI.
Original source: Tech Update :: First U.S. Wind Farm Under Construction.
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