Vineyard Wind says it is working with the Woods Hole Group, a local environmental contractor, to deploy current measuring and turbidity monitoring devices along the export cable corridor.
Working with Woods Hole Group, the company hopes to gain insight and data that will influence the planning and engineering of the cable installation. Woods Hole Group utilized the local research vessel (R/V) Catapult, a 35-foot boat owned by Marine Imaging Technologies based out of Cataumet, Mass., to deploy the instrumentation.
“We often talk about the positive direct impacts the offshore wind industry will have on the U.S. economy, but it’s important to not overlook the benefits that will be derived by existing local companies who can expand their portfolio of work to accommodate this growing industry,” says Rachel Pachter, chief development officer at Vineyard Wind. “We’re proud to partner with the Woods Hole Group on this important piece of data collection and look forward to working with many other maritime industry businesses for the foreseeable future.”
Woods Hole Group supplied specialized instrumentation for the project: acoustic doppler current profilers (ADCP) and turbidity monitoring devices which will be deployed within specially designed trawl resistant bottom mounts (TRBM) units. The instrumentation was placed at various points throughout Muskeget Channel and Nantucket Sound, long known for extremely high tidal velocities, particularly during the flood and ebb tides. Eventual landfall for the export cables will occur at Covells Beach in Barnstable.
The instruments have been deployed to collect observations for up to 60-days, or two complete lunar tidal cycles. Upon completion of the measurement campaign, Woods Hole Group will again utilize the R/V Catapult to assist with the recovery of the devices from the seabed. Woods Hole Group will download the captured data from the instruments for processing and will provide it to Vineyard Wind to facilitate planning of the various marine works associated with the project.
Vineyard Wind, an 800 MW project located 15 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, is slated to be the first commercial-scale offshore wind farm in the U.S.
Photo: Marine Imaging Technologies’ R/V Catapult
