Weather Postpones Block Island Installation

The rough sea is proving too much for what it is to be the US first offshore wind farm offshore Block Island.

Due to the bad weather, which is expected to last longer than anticipated, Deepwater Wind has decided to dock the barge carrying turbine foundations off a pier in the Quonset Business Park to do some preliminary work, writes Providence Journal.

Jeffrey Grybowski, CEO of Deepwater Wind, said this work will, in theory, enable them to install foundations even in the rough weather, however, it will not be necessary as the conditions at sea are getting better.

He added that a good deal of weather breaks were built into the construction schedule thus it will not be a problem for Deepwater Wind to catch up.

Attaching rigging to the tops of the tops of the foundations is expected to be completed by Friday morning when the barge will be towed back to the installation site.

OffshoreWIND staff; Image: Jeff Grybowski, Deepwater Wind’s CEO