Opportunity
In the summer of 2016, a state-of-the-art jack-up vessel traveled from France to Rhode Island, carrying five nacelles for the Block Island Wind Farm.
Solution
We were the lender’s technical advisor and owner's engineers for the project. On behalf of the developer Deepwater Wind (now Ørsted US Offshore Wind), we provided feasibility studies, conceptual design, cost estimates, public relations, and permitting services.
Outcome
The first project of its kind in the US, the 30-megawatt wind farm now generates enough power for more than 17,000 homes. Ten percent of the output is used to power all of Block Island, replacing five diesel generators. Three hundred local workers were involved in the construction.
In one of several “Stories from Block Island,” Ørsted quotes Bryan Wilson, the manager of the wind farm, as saying, “We have a strong environmental ethos on Block Island, with more than half the island in permanent conservation…. That ethos means the wind farm was a good fit for our community. Of all the different environmental projects we’ve done, turning off those five diesel generators and trading them for five offshore wind turbines was an amazing feat – and to do it in a way that included everyone who had a stake in it.”