After a challenging year for the offshore wind industry, construction of America's first utility-scale offshore wind farm is now halfway complete.
With more than six of its 12 turbines operating, South Fork Wind has been delivering power to the Long Island Grid for about a month.
It is a milestone that would not have happened without New London's State Pier, where the turbines are staged and pre-assembled.
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Orsted and Eversource are partnering to build three offshore wind projects. The first is South Fork Wind and two more are planned on its heels. The turbines for each project are staged and pre-assembled in New London.
“This is really the first significant offshore wind mustering port in the country," Jeff Martin, of Eversource, said.
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All of the main South Fork wind turbine components are stored on-site at New London State Pier.
The parts for one turbine include towers, nacelles and blades. Once out at sea, a fully assembled tower will stand over 350 feet tall. A nacelle, which houses the generator of the turbine, weighs more than 500 metric tons. One turbine also includes three blades, each is close to 330 feet.
The components for one full turbine are loaded onto a barge and shipped offshore for installation. The process repeats itself for each turbine and is highly weather dependent.
The barge carrying the components is the size of a football field.
