30 Mar, 2016

America’s first offshore wind farm to be completed by the end of this year

Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency | UNITED STATES | 29 Mar, 2016
Published by : Care To Trade

General Electric (GE) is currently collaborating with clean energy company Deepwater Wind on an innovative new project: America’s first offshore wind farm, located south of Rhode Island near Block Island. The companies announced that they plan to finish the wind farm this year.

Block Island lies about 13 miles south of Rhode Island, and is home to a little over one thousand people. When complete, the wind farm of the same name will generate 90 per cent of all the electricity required by Block Island.

Deepwater Wind propels construction, and GE contributed Haliade turbines, which they acquired with the purchase of Alstom in 2015. The turbines are huge: each one alone can generate six megawatts. According to GE, the turbines are “twice as high as the Statue of Liberty” with a “diameter that doubles the size of a 747 Jumbo jet wingspan.” The final wind farm will include five of these mega turbines.

Video : Youtube | GE's offshore Industrial Projects

The turbine parts are manufactured in France and assembled on site, where Deepwater Wind adheres to careful environmental regulations to ensure the clean energy is beneficial for all involved, including the North Atlantic Right Whales that inhabit the waters around Rhode Island. They’ve taken steps to limit underwater noise: they cease “all noise-producing activities” in the spring when the whales are present in the Rhode Island Sound, and their boats travel slower to create as little noise as possible.

CEO of GE Renewable Energy Jérôme Pécresse said, “In the last six years, the renewables industry has been able to lower the cost of electricity produced by onshore windfarms by approximately 60 per cent, making wind mainstream and competitive with other forms of power generation…At GE, we believe our mission is to make renewable power affordable, accessible, and reliable, to support the energy transition around the world.”

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Article by Lacy Cooke at inhabitat.com
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