Deepwater Wind today announced that it has signed an agreement with Siemens Energy to buy the company’s latest offshore wind turbines for deployment in the Block Island Wind Farm, a project that remains on track to be the nation’s first offshore wind farm.
Under the agreement, Siemens will supply five of its new 6.0-megawatt direct drive offshore wind turbines for the Block Island Wind Farm. This will be the first project in the United States, and one of the first anywhere in the world, to use the new turbine, which will be commercially available for the project.
“The Siemens turbine is the future of offshore wind, and our partnership with Siemens is a huge advancement and advantage for the Block Island Wind Farm,” said William M. Moore, CEO of Deepwater Wind. “Not only is Siemens one of the leading technology firms in the world, but they have now agreed to supply Deepwater Wind with their very latest wind turbine technology, one that will move our entire industry forward.”
Siemens is the world market leader in offshore wind power, with more than 20 years of project experience and more than 2,000 megawatts of installed capacity in European waters alone.
“We are extremely excited to partner with Deepwater Wind, one of the leading developers of offshore wind in North America. We believe that the Block Island Wind Farm is a pathbreaking project,” said Mark Albenze, CEO of the Americas Business Unit of Siemens Energy’s Wind Power Division. “It will be the first deployment in the United States of our most advanced offshore turbine, and one of the first deployments in the world. This agreement with Deepwater Wind shows that the offshore wind industry is gaining momentum in the U.S. and we look forward to contributing to the development of this unique project with our outstanding experience.”
The Block Island Wind Farm is on target to be the first offshore wind farm built in North America. The 30-megawatt project will be located in state waters 3 miles southeast of Block Island, Rhode Island. The project also includes a transmission cable connecting the island to the mainland grid for the first time. National Grid has agreed to buy all of the output from the project under a 20-year power purchase agreement that has been approved by the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission and the Rhode Island Supreme Court.
The project is scheduled to be in the construction phase in 2013 or 2014, although the timing of construction is dependent on the permitting process and final turbine specifications.
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Source: dwwind, October 12, 2011