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Block Island Wind Farm

The Block Island Wind Farm is located 3.8 miles off of Block Island! View history as the first offshore commercial wind farm in the United States gears up to provide clean energy to the island and beyond. The five six hundred foot tall turbines are expected to produce more than 125,000 megawatts annually and help to eliminate power previously provided by diesel generators from the island's power company.  

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Manager Joon Yang P.O. Box 280 213 Water Street Block Island, RI 02807

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Block Island Wind Farm

The original American offshore wind farm.

A visit to Mohegan Bluffs or the Southeast Lighthouse reveals beautiful views of the nation’s first offshore wind farm. There are five towers, each with three spinning blades and standing 660 feet tall (the Statue of Liberty is 305 feet tall). A boat tour to the turbines — which deliver enough electricity to power 17,000 homes — shows off their magnificent design and size. (See pg. 31 for more details and information on boat tours.)

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This Boat Ride Will Take You On A Tour Of Rhode Island's Wind Farm

Natalie Clunan

Natalie is a writer and travel enthusiast who loves uncovering new places along the East Coast. Contact: [email protected]

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We use electricity every day and most of us take it for granted. It’s not until a hurricane or tropical storm knocks out our power grid that we realize how heavily we rely on our lights, stoves, water heaters, and the many more plug-in devices that we use daily. Take this wind farm tour by boat and find out more about how Rhode Island is taking big steps to change the way electricity is produced.

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Are you ready to take this wind farm tour? While you are out on Block Island, you should stop by this exotic animal farm .

You also might want to check out this marine adventure that the kids will be talking about for years to come.

OnlyInYourState may earn compensation through affiliate links in this article. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

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Block Island: From Windmills to the First US Offshore Wind Farm

It is fitting that Block Island hosts the first US offshore wind farm, as it has a history of utilizing wind power that stretches back over 200 years. An updated repost.

The first wind mill, known as the Harbor Mill  was originally built in 1770 and transported to Block Island around 1810. A second wind mill, the Littlefield Mill was installed around 1815. Both stood through the turn of the twentieth century.

The old Block Island mills used wind power to grind corn rather than generate electricity, of course. While some hotels generated their own electricity, island-wide electric power didn’t arrive on Block Island until 1926 .

Block Islanders pay some of the highest utility rates in the United States — 50 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) or more during peak summer months, nearly five times the national average. Until the installation of the wind farm, they have relied on antiquated and dirty diesel generators.

 I remember sailing into Block in 1979 and seeing the first modern wind turbine installed on the island when wind power was added to the grid, albeit briefly. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) began installing experimental wind turbines in locations with favorable wind conditions. Block Island was one such site. NASA installed on the island a 125-foot diameter two-bladed powered turbine mounted on a 100-foot tower capable of generating 200KW. After moderate success, NASA decided by 1982 that the installation was too small to be economical. At the time, NASA was developing new designs with blade rotors of over 400 feet. The new wind farm rotors, purchased from the French manufacturer Alstom, are roughly 500 feet in diameter.

The Block Island wind farm is a small but important first step in the further development of clean and renewable energy in the United States.  It is also in many ways a return to the reliable wind power that Block Islanders started using over 200 years ago.

Block Island: From Windmills to the First US Offshore Wind Farm — 2 Comments

Somme day in the futurer I can see it being news that what ever location will be newsworthy for being one of the last places to finally accept renewable energy

@Willy I expect that will be an urban location whereas some places in rural areas which never got connected to the grid will have skipped that part of progress and gone straight to renewable energy with their own turbines.

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The Block Island Wind (And Fish) Farm

Get up close and personal with these structures for banner fishing.

It was seven in the morning and the weather was perfect; not a cloud in the sky, a breeze from the east at five knots with an air temperature of 72 degrees. Captain Steven Forsberg, a fourth generation Montauk charter captain, was at the wheel of the Viking Five Star, a custom built 65-foot charter boat as we broke the Montauk jetties and headed east, bound for the Block Island Wind Farm The water was about 90 feet deep and we were about 12 miles east of Montauk and three miles southeast of Block Island. It was shaping up to be a perfect day of fishing.

Completed in 2016, the Block Island Wind Farm, operated by the offshore wind developer Orsted; consists of five turbines reaching heights of approximately 600 feet, and each capable of producing six megawatts of electricity for a total project scale of 30 megawatts, enough to power 17,000 homes. The turbines connect to New Shoreham, Rhode Island via a submarine power cable buried in the sea floor.

Exploring The Farm

Having heard stories of the great fishing that existed around the base of each turbine, I decided to see for myself if the rumors were true, and so I put together a small group of experienced charter boat captains and bottom fishermen. Together, we set off on an exploratory trip to the offshore wind farm.

“Get as close to the foundation as possible,” I instructed Captain Steve as we approached wind turbine number five, while the six anglers on deck baited their 5/0 hooks, spaced three feet apart, on hi-lo rigs, with cut squid and clam.

Expertly positioning the stern about 30 yards away from the steel legs that made up the foundation of the turbine, Captain Steve shouted out of the wheelhouse door “Let ‘em go”, and six rigs, pulled by 10-ounce sinkers were free spooled to the bottom.

Having heard rumors of large black sea bass and porgies prowling around the base of each of the five foundations, anticipation was high as we drifted past the rig, then, suddenly, as soon as we got downtide of the foundation and if on que, shouts of “fish on” were heard across the stern as everyone raced to be the first to have a fish on deck.  Richie Dodaro, my long-time fishing and hunting partner, was the first to swing his catch aboard, a doubleheader, made up of a 3-1/2-pound porgy and a 3-pound black sea bass.  Andy Schau, my cousin, quickly followed lifting a doubleheader of 3-pound black sea bass over the stern, while my wife, LuAnn, continued the action swinging her own pair of jumbo 5-pound sea bass over the rail.

Everyone had fish on—the bite was incredible—as soon as you hit bottom you had a bite! Each drift past the foundation would produce, porgies, sea bass and fluke. The action would continue to be fast and furious until we drifted about o100 yards away from the turbine foundation, after which the bite would slow down and we’d just run up tide for another drift. Someone suggested why not just tie up to the rig instead of drifting past them, but I quickly reminded them that while drifting past and fishing the turbines was allowed by the Coast Guard, tying up to one, was not.  Someone else suggested that, in the future, the new increasingly popular “GPS anchors”, a bow mounted trolling motor with internal or interfaced GPS modules, designed to hold a boat in place without the need of deploying a traditional anchor, were perfectly suited to fishing alongside a turbine foundation, with the added benefit of eliminating the risk of getting stuck on the bottom. Everyone agreed that would be the way to go in the future instead of drifting.

Try One, Try All

After a few drifts, and reminding everyone of our original goal to test the fishing next to each turbine, it was time to move on to turbine number four to see if it would also produce.

The old saying, “You never leave fish to find fish” was on everyone’s mind as we sailed away from turbine number five and approached number four; but those fears were soon gone as shouts of “fish on” were heard again as soon as the rigs hit the bottom next to turbine number four.  As the “official photographer” for the trip, it was my job to document the fishing but I could not resist the temptation to fish and gave in, putting down the camera and picking up a rod rigged with a 3-ounce single hook Tsunami jig in silver. I flipped the jig to the turbine foundation, and within three snaps of the rod tip, I was into an 8-pound bluefish.

On and on it went with each turbine producing a catch of fish that would make anyone happy. Curiously, some turbines seemed to hold an even mix of species, while others would be mostly porgies or sea bass.  A couple of turbines had schools of anchovies swimming in amongst the foundation legs and these were the turbines that held the bluefish.

Above And Below

Weeks later, in a conversation with Skip Feller, captain of the head-boat Rudee Angler , he told me the two recently installed turbines, 23 miles offshore of Virginia Beach, were attracting pelagic baitfish.  These baitfish were attracting mahi-mahi, cobia and amberjack. The rock placed around the base of each turbine, known as “scour protection”, designed to prevent the sand from washing out from under the turbine, was holding the typical Virginia bottom species consisting of sea bass, fluke and spadefish.  He told me he could not wait for more turbines to be built, so he could fish the topwater for the mahi’s and the bottom on the scour protection that comes with each turbine.  In his opinion, an area of plain sandy bottom that he used to only travel through has now become a destination as each turbine develops into an artificial reef.

Recently, underwater videos of the Block Island turbines show the legs of each foundation covered with mussels and fish picking at them. It seems each turbine develops its own food chain and that chain attracts many species popular with local recreational anglers.

By 1 p.m. we had reached our September sea bass limit and we had all the jumbo porgies we could use, and so it was time to steam back to Montauk. Jay our deckhand, kept busy the entire return trip filleting fish, finishing the last porgy just as we passed the jetties marking the entrance to Montauk harbor.

All in all, it was the perfect day, great weather, good friends, and incredible fishing.  What more could one ask for?

With hundreds of additional turbines scheduled to be erected in the near future from Martha’s Vineyard to Cape Hatteras, several offshore of Long Island and New Jersey, recreational fishermen should hope these new turbines will produce the same action as the Block Island and Virginia Beach wind farms. If they do, get ready, there is some great fishing in our future!

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There is so much to learn about Block Island and so many ways to learn about it from locals!  Tours of Block Island are one of the most popular ways to get around the island.  Guided tours are offered by land (Taxi and Bike Tours), air (Helicopter Tours) and sea (Kayak tours, Harbor tours).

Taxi Tours:

Sure, you can read guide books, study maps, download apps and review online travel blogs. But the best way to learn the most about Block Island in the least amount of time is to take in the sights with a narrated taxi tour. And since there are no tour bus or trolley companies on the island, a taxi tour is the way to go.

In just about an hour’s time, you can travel the entire island, from the granite North Light overseeing the Block Island Wildlife Refuge at our northernmost point to the stunning Mohegan Bluffs, rising 150 feet above the sea below.

Many of the drivers are long-time island residents, so you’ll learn the all about the island of today and yesterday, while getting the inside track on where the locals like to eat, drink, shop, fish and enjoy sun and surf.

Most Block Island taxis fit between 8 and 11 people, so no worries about the whole gang fitting in if you’re with a group. Just head down to the Taxi Stand at Old Harbor to grab a cab, or you can call a taxi to pick you up wherever you’re staying.  Links to Taxi's below.

Bike Tours:

Enjoy seeing the island on 2 wheels!  Go at your own pace on the Self Guided tour or get a guide!  Links to both below.

Helicopter Tours:

Seeing Block Island from above is a magical experience.  Tours depart from the Island's only airport, on Center Road. 

Water Tours:

Guided Kayak tours are available in Great Salt Pond, the Block Island Maritime Institute runs a Harbor Tour (from a boat) in the Summer Season, and some Charter boats offer tours as well.  Links below.

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Block Island wind turbines offer glimpse into energy future for Newport County and beyond

NEW SHOREHAM — The Rhode Island Fast Ferry backed out of its berth at Quonset Point and chugged south past Jamestown, a brisk wind blustering across top deck as it made its way past oyster farms, historical homes and other features of Rhode Island’s coastal environment along Narragansett Bay’s west passage.

The New England for Offshore Wind coalition chartered the ferry on Tuesday, Sept. 20 for a trip out to the Block Island Wind Farm, allowing a mix of about 100 politicians, lobbyists, consultants and renewable energy advocates from around New England to see five of the United States’ seven functioning offshore wind turbines up close.

Among all the curious visitors from Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, three local legislators were also on board, checking out the turbines and soaking in information relevant to their constituents.

State Rep. Michelle McGaw, D-Portsmouth, and state Sen. Dawn Euer, D-Newport, both represent communities in Newport County, and Alana DiMario is the state senator for North Kingstown, Narragansett and Block Island — the Rhode Island communities that have been most directly impacted by offshore wind up to this point.

More: How a 100-turbine wind farm is about to change Newport County's oceanfront views

DiMario pointed out that, in addition to her constituents on Block Island who receive their power from the farm, her district also encompasses Quonset, where Orsted’s 100-turbine Revolution Wind Project intends to land its transmission line, and Galilee in Narragansett, where many of the state’s commercial fisherman dock their vessels.

She considers the Block Island farm to be a success, and pointed out the island’s residents will not feel the squeeze many Rhode Island residents will experience from significantly increased fuel costs this winter.

'People have a lot of questions'

McGaw, who represents Portsmouth, Tiverton and Little Compton, was appreciative of the opportunity to learn more about offshore wind and see a functioning wind farm in person. She said offshore wind is an increasingly common topic she hears about from her constituents, particularly in the wake of the Mayflower Wind application to run a transmission cable up the Sakonnet River and across Island Park in Portsmouth .

“People have a lot of questions,” she said. “People are cautious. I’m trying to learn and share as much information as possible.”

The country’s first offshore wind farm, comprised of five GE Haliade turbines, each producing 6 megawatts of power with a 330-foot tower topped by three 240-foot blades, is situated 3.8 miles off the coast of Block Island and is owned by Danish offshore wind titan Orsted, which acquired the project from original developer Deepwater Wind in 2018 for $510 million.

More: Residents push for benefits as Mayflower Wind continues to seek Portsmouth access

The five turbines, which were state of the art at the time of their construction but will appear puny in comparison to the newer, 16 megawatt models that will soon be installed in other offshore wind farms being built off the coast of Rhode Island and Massachusetts , provide all of Block Island’s energy, replacing diesel generators that used to burn over a million gallons of fuel annually.

The farm’s success has helped position Rhode Island as a regional and national leader in offshore wind, just as renewable energy and its attendant industries stand poised to explode over the next few years.

How does the Block Island wind farm impact sea life?

Among several speakers on board the ferry, each delivering short remarks as the boat slowly circled the turbines, Capt. Dave Monti stood out. Monti has been fishing Rhode Island’s waters for more than 50 years, runs charters out of Wickford and writes a weekly fishing report for The Providence Journal.

He acknowledged while many anglers who ply the waters of Block Island were apprehensive, or even in direct opposition to the wind farm when it was first proposed, the results of a seven-year fishing study mandated by the state and funded by the wind farm developers published in the peer-reviewed ICES Journal of Marine Science in May offered some very reassuring results.

Guest view: Sustainable future demands offshore wind, not ocean oil drilling

The study proved not only was there no significant negative effect on fish that live near the bottom of the sea — demersal fish — and invertebrate populations during the farm’s construction and operation, but the farm  actually has resulted in higher concentrations of Atlantic cod and black sea bass, around the turbines.

Some of the fish caught in the study also had mussels in their stomachs, indicating they might be eating mussels growing on the turbine foundations.

Rhode Island making move toward renewable energy

Euer, who represents Jamestown and Newport, explained she actually moved to Rhode Island to pursue her law degree in part because of the maritime law specialty offered by Roger Williams University and its relevance to the legal processes required by the development of offshore wind leases.

She played a key role in Rhode Island’s draft RFP for offshore wind, a solicitation for an offshore wind procurement of 600 to 1,000 megawatts due to be issued by Gov. Dan McKee’s office on Oct. 15 at the conclusion of a 30-day public comment period.

The RFP was mandated by the Affordable Clean Energy Security Act passed by the General Assembly in July. The assembly also passed in July a law requiring 100% of Rhode Island's electricity needs be met with renewable energy by 2033.

Contextualized by Rhode Island’s participation in the Federal-State Offshore Wind Implementation Partnership recently launched by the Biden administration, which calls for the production of 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy in the United States by 2030, it's clear Rhode Island sits at the tip of a multi-billion dollar spear that is about to revolutionize coastal economies and state power grids.

Off the coast of Block Island, those who look closely can catch a glimpse of the future.

Block Island Wind Farm

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Construction is Underway on the First Large Offshore Wind Farm in the U.S.!

On August 3, the New England for Offshore Wind Coalition, Environmental League of Massachusetts, and offshore wind developer Avangrid hosted a boat tour of the construction site for the Vineyard Wind 1 wind farm located 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard. On this day, dozens of offshore wind advocates including environmental and conservation organizations, state representatives, union workers, and industry members gathered on the 85-foot Captain John and Son II to learn about the ongoing progress for what will soon be the United States’ largest offshore wind development (for now). For many on board, this was the first time they were able to visit the site and see firsthand what is required to build an offshore wind farm.

Offshore Wind Creates Good Jobs

Vineyard Wind 1 will have 62 turbines, each 850 feet tall and distanced 1 mile from each other. In total, these turbines will generate over 800 megawatts of electricity which will power 400,000 Massachusetts homes. According to the developer, Vineyard Wind 1 will “create 3,600 full-time equivalent jobs and, under the Project Labour Agreement, at least 500 of the jobs created during the construction phase of the project are guaranteed to be filled by local staff and includes high hiring targets for women and various groups facing racial discrimination in the US.” Union labor is also a major part of the project’s workforce, including Piledrivers and Divers Local 56, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 223, among other local labor unions to ensure safe working conditions, good pay, and technical ability. The installation of the turbines began in early August. Avangrid is optimistic that power could start being generated by October 2023, with full scale operations by mid-2024.

While tour attendees were too early to see any actual wind turbines, there is already significant infrastructure in place. From the vessel, passengers were able to spot at least six foundations where the turbines will ultimately be installed. These massive structures anchor the turbines in place. In addition, passengers also had the chance to see one of the world’s largest offshore electrical substations. Sitting on a yellow foundation, or “jacket”, made of 2,500 tons of steel, Vineyard Wind’s Deputy CEO Sy Oytan explained that the substation’s top is “as big as an American football field” and includes a helicopter platform. The substation will deliver the electricity from the wind farm through undersea cables into Barnstable where it connects to the regional power grid.

Putting Wildlife and Wildlife Habitat First

The developer also notes that “Vineyard Wind 1 will prevent the emission of more than 1.6 million tons of carbon dioxide every year, the equivalent to withdrawing 325,000 vehicles from the roads, and, during the life of the project, a total of 3,700 million dollars will be saved in energy costs in the region of New England.” In addition to the emissions reductions of Vineyard Wind 1, wildlife protection was also a key feature of ensuring responsible development. Vineyard Wind partnered with the Charles River Association to employ novel technology to detect marine mammals, ships, and fishing gear, allowing the developers to avoid potentially dangerous interactions with wildlife.

These are not the only wildlife protection measures that have gone into the development of this project over the last four years. For example, the developer has employed bubble curtains during pile driving to dampen the noise created, protecting marine wildlife like whales from potential hearing damage or loss. Moreover, Vineyard Wind is taking additional precautions to protect North Atlantic right whales including seasonal pile driving restrictions and comprehensive monitoring to ensure construction does not happen while right whales are in the area.

Vineyard Wind 1 is just the beginning of offshore wind in the U.S. According to recent research, there is so much more potential for offshore wind. The Biden administration has set ambitious, yet feasible, goals for development by 2030 and 2050, and the construction of Vineyard Wind 1 is an important step toward fulfilling them. With new lease areas being auctioned and projects being permitted across the country, there has never been a more exciting and important time to ensure offshore wind is built swiftly and responsibly.

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Future of Energy

A Smithsonian magazine special report

Getting Up Close and Personal With America’s First Offshore Wind Farm

The newly-erected turbines off of Block Island may signal the future of American wind power

Megan Gambino

Senior Editor

The captain of the small fishing boat didn’t exactly instill confidence in his passengers. “The last two photographers got sick,” he told us helpfully as we prepared to leave the port of tiny Block Island, off the coast of slightly-bigger Rhode Island. The photographer next to me, with another news organization, fiddled nervously with his equipment, a motion sickness patch on his neck. I, too, had taken a precautionary Dramamine.

We were traveling a mere three miles southeast of the island, where the last of five 560-foot-tall wind turbines was being erected in the shallow coastal waters. Designed by General Electric for a project owned by Providence-based Deepwater Wind, the stalwart, 6-megawatt machines constitute the first offshore wind farm in the United States—and we were going to see it up close.

It was a clear August day, and the water was relatively calm. Eric Crucerey, the Block Island Wind Farm project director for GE Renewable Energy, and I looked through the windshield as the four completed turbines came into view. Crews, he said, had been working nonstop since early August, with a few delays.

“We had to stop several days due to high winds,” said Crucerey, who has been in charge of transporting and installing the five GE Haliade turbines. The hold-up, he said, was a contradiction: of course the project’s organizers want strong winds to produce energy. Just not in this phase, as it complicates the installation.

Shipping the parts of the turbines to Block Island was a beastly task in itself. Manufactured in a GE factory in Saint-Nazaire, France, the five, 400-ton nacelles—machines with all of the turbines’ generating components—crossed the Atlantic on a large vessel called the Brave Tern . The 15 blades, weighing 27 tons and measuring 240 feet each, first traveled by highway with a police escort on a special trailer from the factory in Denmark where they were made to a port where they were shipped to Aviles, Spain. There, they joined up with the towers and continued on to Providence.

Then came the heroic feat of assembling the turbines. On site, the Brave Tern transformed into a construction platform. The vessel jacked up above the water’s surface on four sturdy legs rooted in the sea floor. Throughout this month, crews positioned the barge at each “jacket,” a bright yellow steel base planted in the seabed and rising out of the water. These foundations for the turbines were laid last year—a “steel in the water” milestone for the offshore wind industry in the United States. Cranes on the Brave Tern ’s deck hoisted parts hundreds of feet into the air, and, piece-by-piece, crews erected the turbines. The final blade was added to the fifth turbine last Thursday with a giant gripper dangling from a crane.

The Department of Energy has estimated that there is the capacity to generate more than 4,000 gigawatts of electricity—four times the existing electric system—from offshore wind along the coast of the U.S. and the Great Lakes. Earlier this month, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker added some momentum to the cause when he signed legislation that requires electricity distributors in the state to reach 1,600 megawatts (a commitment higher than any other state) of offshore wind energy by 2027.

The 30-megawatt Block Island Wind Farm is miniscule compared to Europe’s offshore farms. But it gets the job done: Each turbine can generate enough electricity for up to 5,000 homes. “But because of what they call the ‘capacity factor,’ which basically allows for the fact that the wind doesn’t blow all of the time, we think of these five machines as being able to supply electricity for 17,000 homes,” said Tim Brown, public affairs leader for GE Renewable Energy.  The 125,000 megawatt-hours of electricity produced each year should meet 90 percent of Block Island’s power needs.

Undersea electric cables connect the five turbines to a new substation on Block Island, and National Grid, a utility company providing electricity and natural gas to Rhode Island, New York and Massachusetts, laid a cable from the island to mainland Rhode Island. Deepwater Wind agreed to initially sell electricity to National Grid at a rate of 24.4 cents per kilowatt-hour.

The $300 million farm’s relatively modest size ultimately helped it succeed. Others, like the 130-turbine Cape Wind project off Cape Cod, have been stymied in part by vocal residents who see the metal behemoths as an eyesore. The fact that Block Island has never been connected to the energy grid also makes it a favorable spot for a wind farm. Homes and businesses on the island currently get all of their electricity from generators fueled by diesel shipped from the mainland—a method that is very expensive. Deepwater Wind estimates that the new farm will ultimately reduce electric rates on the island by 40 percent.

As our fishing boat bent around the first turbine, I tried not to think about what I had for breakfast. Everyone’s heads tilted back to take in the hunk of steel before us. Crucerey explained that crews of up to 25 people are distributed to each machine in the morning for 10 hours of work. Their boats approach the turbine carefully, and the crewmembers start their day with a vicious workout: climbing 65 feet up a ladder to the steel jacket. Inside the tower, there is an elevator that ascends more than 300 feet (the equivalent of around 30 stories) to the nacelle, which can accommodate six people. A helicopter pad is attached to the nacelle in case the turbine needs to be serviced in conditions too rough to send technicians by boat.

Maneuvering the costly parts of giant machines on the water is difficult. “When we are offshore, everything is very complex,” Crucerey said. “We have to be prepared for anything. To have always in mind, if something happened, what are we going to do?”

The crew went through a number of safety trainings, including a rescue activity that involved jumping, with a controlled cable system, from the helicopter pad.

“I did it,” Crucerey said, with a smile.

In the next weeks and months, crews will be testing the turbines. The machines are expected to be operational by October or November.

“This project is a very important symbol of the fact that tangibly offshore wind can work in the U.S.,” Brown said. “It won’t be a theoretical debate. People will see it in the water, they will see it working, and they will see it supplying electricity.”

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Megan Gambino is a senior web editor for Smithsonian magazine.

Block Island Tours By Peter Pan Taxi Service

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 Peter Pan Taxi cab Service is operated by experienced  Island drivers who love Block Island and call it their home. Whether you require a quick ride to and from each harbor, an early morning lift to the ferry dock, or a shuttle for your island wedding guests, Peter Pan is at your service. Our Island tours, led by drivers who love Island history, will leave you with a better understanding of the history and culture of the unique Island they call home. A tour of Block Island’s beautiful spots will enhance your visit; whether you are here for the day, weekend, or week, an Island tour seeped in history is an experience you won’t soon forget!

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Windmill trips - Block Island Forum

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Windmill trips

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Are there any boats from Block Island that have excursions to see the windmills up close?

I haven't been on it yet, but I saw an ad in the Block Island Summer Times, for Hula Charters, which said Wind Farm Tours, maybe that's what you're looking for

Hula Charters will do trips out to the wind farm. (401) 263-3474

So will the boat "Rooster" (401) 439-5386

Fishworks (401) 742-3992 could also help you book a charter.

If you will be on the island the weekend of September 16-18, then you can book on to a tour of the wind farm through the Chamber of Commerce as part of their "Taste Of Block Island" weekend.

I've been out there by boat and they are really amazing; you will love it.

Thank you for the information. We are out on the Island next week. It is now looking to be a bit of rough seas so we may have to skip the trip. We will also be out the end of September so perhaps can take a trip out then. I will report back on trip advisor if we make it.

For the summer of 2017, Interstate Navigation will be running wind farm tours on Wednesdays, July 12, July 19, July 26, August 2, August 9, August 16, August 23 and August 30. see their website for information http://www.blockislandferry.com

During Block Island Restaurant Week, June 11-17, there will be smaller boats doing tours of the wind farm. For information on these, contact the Block Island Chamber of Commerce.

The Boat "Fish the World" offers wind farm tours any day of the week for up to six people. One can book this boat by calling 401-466-5254 or using their website at http://www.fishtheworld.us

This topic has been closed to new posts due to inactivity.

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Has the Block Island Wind Farm lived up to its promise? Here's what we found.

PROVIDENCE – It came an hour and 40 minutes into a hearing on the latest offshore wind farm to move through the Rhode Island certification process, and the allegation was nothing new. 

Opponents of the development of offshore wind in the ocean waters off southern New England have long claimed that the Block Island Wind Farm, the first such project in the nation and the only one in the region, is rife with operational problems and failing to produce nearly as much power as promised.  

“There’s five of them at Block Island, and the last I heard, four of them are not working at all,” the speaker testified at last week’s hearing on the Revolution Wind proposal. 

She argued that if the five-turbine Block Island Wind Farm was anything to go by, the 65-turbine Revolution project would be an even bigger mistake. She urged the state Coastal Resources Management Council to vote it down. 

There have been unforeseen problems with the Block Island turbines, but filings with state utilities regulators show that they have been temporary and minor and had a small impact on power generation relative to the six full years of production since the wind farm went into operation at the end of 2016. 

Offshore wind: Rhode Island is playing a key role in a pivotal year for offshore wind in America

Power production and capacity have met expectations – and been consistent

In five of the six years it's been operational, the wind farm has produced more than 100,000 megawatt-hours of electricity, or enough power for about 17,000 homes, according to data provided to the state Public Utilities Commission by Rhode Island Energy, the utility that signed a long-term contract to buy the power.

Production peaked in 2020, with about 120,000 MWh with the wind farm running at about at 46% capacity – a figure that measures actual production compared to the theoretical maximum production over a given period of time.  

Because renewable energy is an intermittent power source – with generation occurring only when the wind is blowing or the sun is shining – capacity factors for solar and wind farms are lower than those for conventional power plants that can operate around the clock as long as they have fossil fuels to burn.  

Land-based wind farms in southern New England have capacity factors of anywhere between 20% and 30%, and solar farms in the region average between 10% and 20%. When the Block Island Wind Farm won approval in 2010, the expectation was that it would operate at around 40% capacity, because winds offshore are more consistent than those on land, and would generate about 100,000 MWh a year.  

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Generation dipped in 2021 due to inspections and rebounded in 2022

The only year so far in which the project has dipped below either of those numbers was 2021, when the turbines were shut down over the summer for maintenance and stayed down for longer than usual to allow inspections after problems arose in Europe with the same model of turbine manufactured by General Electric.

Workers at a wind farm off Germany had found signs of stress fatigue on the support structures of turbine platforms onto which workers and equipment are lowered from helicopters. As a precaution, Ørsted, the owner of the Block Island Wind Farm, stopped production for the better part of two months to check for similar problems and concluded that the project’s GE Haliade turbines were structurally sound. 

The company did the work in the summer because winds aren’t as strong or as steady in the warmer months, so it’s easier and safer for crews. It also meant that production didn’t drop as much as if the checks were done in the winter, when generation climbs. 

All told, in 2021, the wind farm produced 83,000 MWh for a capacity factor of 32% Last year, production bounced back up again to 110,000 MWh and the capacity factor climbed to 42%. 

More maintenance to come this summer

There are no figures on record yet for 2023, but Ørsted said four of the five turbines are operating normally. One turbine has been taken offline and will remain down until late July so the coils within its generator can be replaced. A spokeswoman for the company described the work as "routine."

A liftboat will soon be stationed at the turbine so the repair can take place. The boat will be able to raise itself out of the water on retractable legs that reach down to the seafloor, helping it withstand rough weather and providing a crew from GE Renewable Energy a stable platform from which to work. 

Under the terms of Ørsted’s contract to sell energy to Rhode Island Energy, none of the repair and maintenance costs can be passed on to ratepayers. 

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Developer of wind farm says it's performed as expected

The Block Island Wind Farm was designed as a test project to prove the viability of offshore wind in America, which has lagged far behind Europe and other parts of the world for the industry. It spurred a host of much bigger projects in the region, including Vineyard Wind and the South Fork Wind Farm, the first two utility-scale offshore wind farms in the nation to begin construction. 

Ørsted considers the Block Island project a success. 

“The Block Island Wind Farm not only made history as America’s first offshore wind farm, but it also continues to perform well and meet its contractual obligations to supply clean energy to Block Island and the mainland grid,” the company said in a statement. “The Block Island Wind Farm is setting the standard for the American offshore wind industry.” 

As for the Revolution Wind proposal that was the subject of the recent hearing, after nine hours of testimony over two nights that included concerns over fishing impacts and damage to marine habitats, the coastal council voted to certify it .

Ørsted and its partner on the project, New England utility Eversource, await approval by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. That’s expected this summer, and if it does come through, construction would begin almost immediately.  

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Windmills: Around and around we go

• By J.V. Houlihan
• Mar 22, 2024
• Mar 22, 2024 Updated Mar 22, 2024

Before the wind farm project got rolling/spinning off Block Island, the word around the high-IQ engineering campfire was that this particular deep-pocketed mission/venture, was akin to the application of some prototypes and a testing site for this energy saving technology. I remember talking with a former student who is professional hard science guy while checking the surf at the Point Judith lighthouse. He’s an engineer; was always a sharp guy. I asked him if this project was actually going to happen, or if was just news chatter.

“The science and engineering is here to stay,” he said.

“So do you think there will be windmills just southeast of the island?” I asked.

“They’re coming,” he said.

I didn’t question his veracity.

At about that same time these new windmills were getting lots of ink in local, regional, and national newspapers, my wife was heading over to Amsterdam to ice skate on a canal like Hans Brinker, see some sights, check out the Red Light Districts for some local color, and go look at a bunch of Vermeer paintings; she loves a Johannes Vermeer painting — especially “Girl with a Pearl Earring” — and the Dutch Masters in general. Moreover, she’s also the kind of art lover who could look at the Mona Lisa and then check out some graffiti art regardless of what country she is visiting. She loves art, what can I say. Ahem, there is no file in my head for this activity.

When Cindy went to Amsterdam on this particular trip, I asked her for one favor. I didn’t want a t-shirt, hat, book, decal, coffee cup with a clever Dutch platitude or wise-ass saying on it, sweater, scarf, or a replica of a canal boat or sloop. All I wanted was a picture of her pretending to skate on a pond in front of a windmill. She thought it was the corniest request; however, she had someone take a snap of her pretending to skate with a very cool, and operative windmill in the background. Okay, maybe it was a corny request but it was also pretty cool to see an old and genuine windmill that was used to pump water and grind grain — for free. Let’s face it, the Dutch were a clever gang of folks who knew how to run an efficient mercantile system such as — ahem, New Amsterdam at the tip of Manhattan many years before the British dug in there. And, it’s no surprise that they figured out the design and technology to utilize the wind; because being great sailors of the high seas, the whole idea of wind power must’ve been a no-brainer for these clever folks who could understand science and manage their dollars. The rest of it, for the Dutch, was some pretty basic applied physics and geometry to get these windmills operative. As a result of the bride hitting Amsterdam, and windmills being spun in the news cycles, I had these things on my mind and was very curious. (The picture my wife had someone take on her flip phone eventually got lost in the cloud. It was an evocative snap.) I digress.

When they were getting ready to embed the windmills off Block Island, they were staging the platforms and other hardware for these five enormous platforms at Quonset Point. About 20 years ago, I kept my sailboat at Allen Harbor up at Quonset, and I started to notice some serious road construction heading into what was once a Naval installation. I knew that car carriers were off-loading cars near Allen Harbor, and that Electric Boat was building submarines; however, the idea of basically building a highway leading toward the bay didn’t seem practical. Then, I got a sense that the State of Rhode Island had some big plans for a certain parcel of Quonset Point and things were moving on the quick step. The military was long gone, and new businesses seemed to be appearing everywhere we looked at the old Navy base. Furthermore, the new road heading into Quonset was only about 10 minutes from I-95. Subsequently, the windmills we now see off Block Island were in fact, staged up on some land at this once massive military base. The summer leading up to placing the windmills off just southeast of the island, I saw all kinds of things accelerating the windmills’ progress. While sailing north of Jamestown, I could see huge yellow platforms being built and placed onto barges. On some days I saw the windmill blades on racks stacked on a barge with very little freeboard. The tug and barge would be steaming from Quonset to the Pell Bridge, only to turn just north of the bridge and head back up the bay. I guess they were doing practice runs. (From my vantage point on my sailboat, it looked rather sketchy because of the low freeboard, but hey, that’s just me.) One night, heading over the Pell bridge to stay on my sailboat in Newport, I saw a huge pump ship with huge spuds and the biggest crane I’ve ever seen in my life. The next morning I took a ride in my boat to see just how big this rig was, and I saw that there were five nacelles that contained the turbine components. Moreover, over the previous four weeks I’d witnessed the yellow platforms leaving Quonset to be set in the ocean floor southeast of the island. It was clear to me that they were getting ready to assemble the windmills that week. And, they were in fact being assembled with the help of very light southwest winds as the cranes did their job. There was a very accommodating lack of wind during the assembling of the blades — the fates were kind. It was very interesting to see how coordinated this project was as it played out in real time, and I thought about all of the prior planning it took to make this happen. And, of course all of the money it cost to make this happen.

Today, seven years after the Block Island wind farm — the first in the nation — there is another wind farm being developed. Last summer, while sailing out of Newport, I saw another pump ship with more huge spuds and cranes, support/supply ships and helicopters on a regular basis. These elements were part of another wind farm planned for the federal waters south of the Vineyard. I was on Martha’s Vineyard last November and from the Aquinnah lighthouse, I could see one pump ship installing a windmill. One windmill. Then, four months later while walking our terrier Annie at the Point Judith Lighthouse, I saw 12 operational windmills east-southeast of Point Judith. To the naked eye, I saw this stretch of hardware with their blades spinning. This particular wind farm project was developing at a very rapid pace, and I thought, here are the new and efficient windmills: and around and around we go. Finally, like the Dutch, I hope we can see this wind farm and hope it will manage its dollars and serve the greater good.

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