Avangrid begins process of installing turbines for Vineyard Wind project
Avangrid began installing wind turbines for its Vineyard Wind 1 project, located off the coast of Massachusetts.
The installation campaign follows the transportation earlier this week of the first GE Haliade-X Wind Turbine Generator (WTG) from the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal to the wind energy development area, located more than 30 miles off the coast of Cape Cod. The project will consist of 62 wind turbines to generate 806 megawatts, which is enough to power more than 400,000 homes and businesses in Massachusetts.
“Over the past year, we have achieved significant milestones in the development of Avangrid’s Vineyard Wind 1, but the installation of the project’s first turbine stands as a singular landmark for offshore wind, clean energy, and climate action in the United States,” Avangrid CEO Pedro Azagra said. “We are proud that local union labor will pioneer the installation of the massive GE turbines that will harness the winds off the shores of Massachusetts to power more than 400,000 homes and businesses across the Commonwealth.”
The GE Haliade-X is the largest turbine in the western world, with a capacity of 13 megawatts including a power boost mode of 13.6 megawatts. Each turbine, which is twice as tall as the Statue of Liberty, is capable of providing power to more than 6,000 homes and businesses.
In fact, one rotation of a single turbine can power one Massachusetts household for an entire day.
The blades span 351 ft. each, which is equivalent to the length of the field at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. The diameter of the rotor is 722 ft., which is equivalent to the height of the Golden Gate Bridge above the water. Further, the surface of the blade sweep is equivalent to seven football fields.
The components transported to the project area weigh a total of 1,700 metric tons combined – which is about the same weight as eight Boeing 747 airplanes. They were transported by two 400-foot barges, the only two in existence capable of transporting in an upright position GE’s massive Haliade-X turbine components.
As a part of the labor agreement, local union labor will be used both on the vessels and onshore at the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal. The project estimates that approximately 400 union members have worked on the project to date.
