Vineyard Wind received the first shipment of turbine components for its planned, 62-turbine offshore wind farm at the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal last week.
The first shipment arrived Thursday, May 25.
The tower sections — the base of the turbine that’s placed on top of a yellow transition piece — will be constructed at the terminal before being shipped out and installed later this summer.
“After a long road, the first day of component arrival is finally here,” Vineyard Wind CEO Klaus Moeller is quoted in a release announcing the arrival of the parts. “This is a great milestone for New Bedford, Vineyard Wind, and the country. We’ve been working together with [New Bedford Mayor Jon] Mitchell for years to achieve this, and are now finally seeing the result … This is only the first — much more is coming. And the vision of New Bedford at the epicenter of the offshore wind industry is coming to life today.”
Vineyard Wind says that towers will arrive in three sections. Once onshore, they will be staged at the terminal before being partially assembled, by union labor, and loaded onto a specialized barge. In all, Vineyard Wind says that approximately 100 union tradespeople will work on the site during the peak construction period.
A boat from Portugal called the UHL Felicity brought the parts from Portugal.
“Congratulations to Vineyard Wind, as well as the workers, local officials, businesses, and advocates who made this important milestone possible,” Gov. Maura Healey is quoted in the Vineyard Wind release. “The Vineyard Wind 1 project is an integral part of our efforts to make Massachusetts a global leader in offshore wind. Our administration looks forward to continuing to support this project and bringing clean, affordable energy to Massachusetts.”
Meanwhile, there is a work stoppage at the New Bedford waterfront, with reports from CAI radio in Woods Hole that the stoppage could delay further shipments and parts arriving in the city. Other unions on the waterfront have joined, and have stopped work. Longshoreman’s Union Local had a voicemail message saying on Wednesday that the work stoppage is still in effect, and they are still negotiating with Vineyard Wind.
The planned 800-megawatt project is located 15 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. It’s expected to generate electricity for more than 400,000 homes and businesses in the state. Although it will not be fully built then, the project is expected to begin delivering energy to Massachusetts in 2023.
How can it deliver clean energy in 2023 when it is not built yet. Will it be built in the next 7 months? Is this a typo?
Once the assembly ship arrives, it, and the crews shift to operations 24/7 pretty much regardless of weather. The ship has legs that jack it up, 50 ft above the ocean. They are professionals. They work 28 days on, and 28 days off. There will be a floating hotel ship to accommodate support staff. Everything arrives like a set of legos,
They are quite capable of putting up one complete windmill a day.
Scour protection and electrical hookups have been ongoing for quite some time.
All they have to do is assemble the giant legos.
They have 62 mills to put up.
There are 214 days left in 2023.
We will see.
Here is a short video about installing foundations
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#search/erik%40vineyardpower.com/FMfcgzGsmWtVTkNjnqSNqZHNnJpMQWxM?projector=1
It will be delivering power before Trump returns to the White House and bans ugly windmills that kill birds.
Actually, the construction has halted since Friday, by union workers protesting Vineyard Wind’s failure to use local workers. What happened to all those promised jobs anyway?
Everyday, month, year our whales live on is a victory. Stop the industrialization of our ocean to save our whales!
The union protesting in New Bedford members do not have the skill set to erect wind turbines.
They are not licensed boat crew, heavy lift specialists, mechanics, or electricians.
They are in the unskilled lump and tote busisness.
Wind is no longer a question of if but how soon.
If we really want to save the whales we must stop all fishing.
Stopping all boats would be even better.
Keep in mind that wind turbine cables vibrate but that the existing cables from the mainland do not…
Mary– there are hundreds of offshore wind farms with tens of thousands of turbines world wide.
Not a single marine mammal anywhere in the world has been shown to have died as a consequence of those turbines.
Not a single one.
And sorry, but the industrialization of our ocean has been going on for some time.
Do you think that the thousands of large ships that actually do collide with whales because they are on a “schedule” and won’t slow down and kill them are not part of an industry ?
Do you think the untold thousands of commercial fishing boats that lose approximately 10 MILLION miles of fishing line each year that actually does entrap and kill whales is not an industry ?
Come on–
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