Avangrid Inc., a sustainable energy company and member of the Iberdrola Group, has commenced the wind turbine installation campaign for its Vineyard Wind 1 project. This follows the successful transportation earlier this week of the first GE Haliade-X from the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal to the wind energy development area more than 30 miles off the coast of Cape Cod.
“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,” says Avangrid CEO Pedro Azagra.
- The GE Haliade-X is the largest turbine in the western world, with a nameplate capacity of 13 MW including a power boost mode of 13.6 MW. Each machine is capable of providing power to more than 6,000 homes and businesses.
- One rotation of a single turbine, which is twice as tall as the Statue of Liberty from the surface of the water, can power one Massachusetts household for an entire day.
- The blades span 351 feet each, equivalent to the length of a football field.
- The components transported to the project area weigh a total of 1,700 metric tons combined – equivalent to more than eight Boeing 747 airplanes.
- The diameter of the rotor is 722 feet which is equivalent to the height of the Golden Gate Bridge above the water.
- The surface of the blade sweep is equivalent to seven American football fields.
The project will consist of 62 wind turbines to generate 806 MW, enough to power more than 400,000 homes and businesses in Massachusetts.
GE loaded the U.S.-flagged Marmac from the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal with vertically placed tower sections, three 351-foot-long blades and a nacelle pod that houses the generating components.
Two 400-foot barges, the only two in existence capable of transporting in an upright position GE’s massive Haliade-X turbine components, transported the massive components. Once installed, the Haliade-X will rise more than 860 feet, which is equivalent to three times the height of the Flat Iron Building in New York City.
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.
