The first huge piece of the first major US offshore wind farm is ready

The first of 62 transition pieces to be manufactured for Vineyard Wind 1, the United States’ first utility-scale offshore wind farm, has just been moved to the port of Avilés, Spain, for shipment to Massachusetts.

Vineyard Wind 1

The transition pieces are being made and delivered by Spanish wind turbine tower maker Windar Renovables, which won the contract in 2019. Windar says the Vineyard Wind project will create 500 jobs at peak production times.

The transition piece is made of steel and binds the monopile and the turbine together. It’s a vital link in the entire offshore wind turbine.

Italian electrical cable company Prysmian Group’s cable-laying vessels, Cable Enterprise and Ulisse, are also in the United States and installing submarine cables manufactured and tested in Finland and Italy.

The $3.5 billion Vineyard Wind will feature 62 Haliade-X 13 megawatt (MW) turbines spaced one nautical mile apart.

The 800 MW Vineyard Wind 1 is a 50-50 joint venture between clean energy company Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) funds CI II and CI III.

Vineyard Wind 1 is 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket and 35 miles from mainland Massachusetts. It will supply clean energy for over 400,000 homes and businesses in Massachusetts and reduce carbon emissions by over 1.6 million tons per year. Electricity generated by the turbines will be collected by an offshore substation before being transmitted to shore.

Vineyard Wind 1 is expected to be online by 2023.

Electrek’s Take

It’s exciting to see a milestone clean energy project start to take shape. Of course the US offshore wind farm industry is still in fledgling stage, so it has to have help from expert companies in Europe while it sets up shop.

And, Vineyard Wind 1 still has to overcome not-insignificant obstacles: in mid-November, a commercial fishing group asked a judge in Boston to make a judgment without a trial in its lawsuit to halt Vineyard Wind 1, as it claims the project is rushed and illegal. We’ll be watching to see what happens.

Read more: Biden administration launches major US offshore wind push

Photo: Windar Renovables

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