One of the five 600-foot-tall wind turbines in the ocean off Block Island began spinning Tuesday, albeit slowly in light winds, as the nation’s first offshore wind-generated power supply started sending electricity ashore.
The Block Island Wind Farm, as it is dubbed by the company that constructed the turbines, Deepwater Wind, will send its power to Block Island and southern New England via undersea cables. The turbines, which are visible from Montauk Point on clear days, sit just three miles off Block Island’s south-facing bluffs.
Deepwater Wind is currently negotiating a contract with the Long Island Power Authority that would authorize them to build up to 15 more turbines in the ocean about 30 miles southeast of Montauk and bring the power ashore in Amagansett to supply the South Fork, which is facing a mounting energy supply deficit in the next decade.
on Dec 14, 2016