Page 28: of Marine News Magazine (October 2016)

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OFFSHORE ENERGY

U.S. Offshore Wind

Comes to Life

MarineNews contributor Robert Kunkel asks:

Are We Ready to Support the Farms?

By Robert Kunkel n August 19, 2016, we watched as the ? fth tower ade-150 six-megawatt offshore wind turbines are installed and associated nacelle was raised on the Deepwater on turbine towers reaching 600 feet tall when the rotating

O Offshore Wind Farm approximately 3 miles off- blade is vertical. The blade length is 240 feet with a tip shore of Block Island, Rhode Island. This is the ? rst Off- speed of 200 miles per hour when rotating. A rotor speed shore Wind farm erected in the United States and, without of 11.5 revolutions per minute is reached during operation a doubt, a huge step forward for this controversial project in a minimum wind speed of 6.5 MPH. At 56 miles per and alternative energy supply. hour, the nacelles are programmed to rotate away from the

The Block Island Wind Farm has a total generating wind with blades feathered. capacity of thirty megawatts and is projected to produce Each tower consists of three sections standing on a 1,500- approximately 125,000 megawatt hours annually. Put an- ton foundation in 70 to 90 feet of water. A single cable, other way, the project boasts enough power to support ap- buried four to six feet deep in the seabed, interconnects proximately 17,000 homes in this small island community. the ? ve towers. The transmission cable continues to the

Beyond this, it is projected that as much as 90% of the island substation ashore with a second transmission cable generated power will be returned to the mainland grid. continuing to the Rhode Island mainland thirty miles away.

This power generation is proven technology and de- ployed around the globe at both land-based applications

Power in Motion

Commonplace off the coast of Europe, the installation in the United States and Offshore in Europe and Asia. is nevertheless impressive and is worth describing to North At each location, the attempt to harness patterned steady

American readers who, until now, could only imagine what winds and transform them into clean, cost-effective elec- tricity has been the target. This particular build is a test this sort of thing might entail. Five General Electric Hali-

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