Offshore

Offshore substation installed to support Massachusetts offshore wind farm

Offshore substation installed to support Massachusetts offshore wind farm
Array cables from Vineyard Wind's 62 turbines will connect to the electrical service platform, where power will be routed to the two export cables that will bring clean, renewable energy to shore. (Courtesy: Vineyard Wind)

Vineyard Wind, a joint venture between Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, said it installed an offshore substation as part of the 800 MW project offshore Massachusetts.

Array cables from Vineyard Wind’s 62 turbines will connect to the electrical service platform (ESP), where power will be routed to two export cables to bring renewable energy to shore. The project, located 15 miles off Martha’s Vineyard, will power 400,000 homes in Massachusetts.

Vineyard Wind said the ESP installation is the “single heaviest lift” for the project, weighing in at more than 3,500 tons.

The ESP installation is the latest milestone for Vineyard Wind, which started work to install the first monopiles and transition pieces at the project in June. The first turbine blade components have arrived in port at New Bedford, Mass., the company said.

As part of the installation process, Vineyard Wind deployed the OSV Atlantic Oceanic and the Northstar Navigator to deploy a primary and secondary bubble curtain.  

A bubble curtain is comprised of large, perforated hoses and air compressors, and is used to absorb and dampen sound during foundation installation. The hoses are placed on the seafloor around the monopile before being filled by compressed air. Once the hoses are inflated, the air escapes through the perforations to create a barrier of bubbles that reduce noise.

Wind turbine blades for the offshore Vineyard Wind project arrive at New Bedford, Mass., in early June 2023. Credit: Orsted

The project is also using a Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) system made up of fixed buoys. Up to four PAMs will be used for real-time underwater acoustic monitoring during pile driving in an effort to characterize the presence of marine mammals by detecting vocalizations.  The buoys will be retrieved before moving to the next foundation location.