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First US offshore wind farm starts generating electricity
The long-awaited first offshore wind farm in the US has arrived and, at the time of writing, is due to start generating electricity by the end of November. The five-turbine, 30 MW Block Island Wind Farm from US offshore wind developer Deepwater Wind will feed power directly to Block Island off the US east coast.
The 6 MW GE ‘Haliade’ turbines were installed for the project in August this year by the Fred. Olsen Windcarrier Brave Tern jack-up vessel, which made its way from France across the Atlantic to the project site – three miles off the coast of Block Island.
The US has been slow to look to offshore wind as its large areas of sparsely populated land means it is suited to onshore wind, which is a cheaper technology. The east coast of the US is more suited to offshore wind development, due to its shallower waters, whereas the west coast, where the seabed drops away quickly, is thought to be more suited to floating offshore wind projects.
In Europe, Vattanfall has won a tender to build the 600 MW Kriegers Flak offshore wind farm off the coast of Denmark for a record low price of €49.9/MWh. The contract is cheaper than two other farms in Denmark (€60) and DONG’s Borssele projects (€72.7) – see Energy World September and October.
Photo: Deepwater Wind
News Item details
Journal title: Energy World
Subjects: Economics, business and commerce, Electricity generation, Onshore wind power, Electricity, Primary energy production, Renewables, Wind power, Offshore wind farms
