The Sea Installer is ready for action. Vineyard Wind, in their joint venture with Copenhagen Infrastructure have welcomed the Wind Turbine Installation Vessel which will begin installing turbines for the first in the nation project later this month. The WTIV, as it is called, docked in New Bedford this week. The 430 foot long, 150-foot-wide heavy-duty jack will lift itself out of the water. Once elevated the vessel will serve as a platform where the crane which is already on site will install tower sections. The massive piece of equipment is instrumental in the continuation of the project.
“When Sea Installer lifts itself up from the ocean floor and begins to install turbines for this first-in-the-nation project, we will literally be standing up a new industry in the US,” said Vineyard Wind CEO Klaus Moeller said. “It’s incredibly exciting to be on the cusp of a milestone that will signal a new age for energy production in the United States. I want to thank all of our partners at every level of government, our friends in organized labor and the communities that are home to and support our project.”
An 800-megawatt project located 15 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, Vineyard Wind will generate electricity for more than 400,000 homes and businesses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, create 3,600 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) job years, save customers $1.4 billion over the first 20 years of operation, and is expected to reduce carbon emissions by more than 1.6 million metric tons per year, the equivalent of taking 325,000 cars off the road annually.
(Photo Credit: Vineyard Wind