Four separate Rhode Island port facilities have been instrumental in the energy provider Deepwater Wind completing its Block Island Wind Farm project, the first US offshore wind utility to deliver energy to the American power grid, which opened on December 12 2016 and is situated off Rhode Island’s coast.
ProvPort, Quonset Point, Galilee and Block Island have aided in the completion of the wind farm’s staging, construction and commissioning over the last two years. The project’s crew transfer vessel, the Rhode Island-built Atlantic Pioneer, transported technicians to the wind farm around the clock.
The energy produced from the Block Island Wind Farm is linked to the New England grid by National Grid’s new sea2shore submarine transmission cable system. Technicians from GE Renewable Energy, which supplied the project’s five offshore wind turbines, took four months to test the new site.
Gina M. Raimondo, Rhode Island’s Governor, said: “Rhode Island is proud to be home to the nation’s first offshore wind farm – and I’m proud to be the only governor in America who can say we have steel in the water and blades spinning over the ocean.
“As the Ocean State, we’re motivated by our shared belief that we need to produce and consume cleaner, more sustainable energy and leave our kids a healthier planet – but also by this tremendous economic opportunity. With this project, we’ve put hundreds of our local workers to work at-sea and at our world-class ports and are growing this innovative industry. I applaud Deepwater Wind for leading the way.”
Jeffrey Grybowski, Deepwater Wind CEO, said: “Our success here is a testament to the hard work of hundreds of local workers who helped build this historic project, and to the Block Islanders and the thousands more around the U.S. who’ve supported us every step of the way of this amazing journey.
“We’ve made history here in the Ocean State, but our work is far from over. We’re more confident than ever that this is just the start of a new U.S. renewable energy industry that will put thousands of Americans to work and power communities up and down the East Coast for decades to come.”
