U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Abigail Ross Hopper joined Rhode Island Governor Gina M. Raimondo, the state’s congressional delegation and representatives of Deepwater Wind – the project developers – in celebrating an historic “steel in the water” milestone for America’s first commercial scale offshore wind farm.
Secretary Jewell said: “Deepwater Wind and Rhode Island officials have demonstrated what can be accomplished through a forward-looking vision and good working partnerships. Block Island Wind Farm will not only tap into the enormous power of the Atlantic’s coastal winds to provide reliable, affordable and clean energy to Rhode Islanders, but will also serve as a beacon for America’s sustainable energy future.”
“As the Nation’s pioneering offshore commercial wind farm, the lessons learned from the Block Island project about facility design, fabrication and installation will inform future projects to be developed on the Outer Continental Shelf,” said B OEM Director Hopper.
Also participating in the celebration were Rhode Island’s U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse and U.S. Representatives Jim Langevin and David Cicilline; Deepwater Wind’s CEO Jeffrey Grybowski; members of the state General Assembly; representatives of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and members of the environmental community. The celebration included a boat tour of the project site to provide a close look at the turbine foundation work underway.
Deepwater Wind is constructing a five-turbine, 30-megawatt wind farm in state waters about three nautical miles southeast of Block Island. At 589 feet above sea level, the turbines will be among the tallest in the world. The project, scheduled to be online in 2016, is expected to power about 17,000 homes. The facility will provide electricity directly from the wind farm to Block Island. Because the island uses only 1 megawatt of power in the off-season and 4 megawatts in the summer peak season, the remaining 90 percent of the energy produced during the off season will be sent to other state customers via a 25-mile bi-directional submerged transmission cable between Block Island and the Rhode Island mainland.