Vineyard Wind announced that work installing the first monopiles and transition pieces has started on the first-in-the-nation commercial scale offshore wind farm. The heavy lift vessel Orion, which is being operated by DEME, will work with a team of ships throughout the summer installing 62 foundations in the wind development area.
As part of the installation process, Vineyard Wind has also deployed the OSV Atlantic Oceanic and the Northstar Navigator to deploy a primary and secondary bubble curtain. A bubble curtain, which is comprised of large, perforated hoses and specialized air compressors, is designed to absorb and dampen sound during foundation installation. The hoses are placed on the seafloor around the monopile before being filled by compress air. Once the hoses are inflated, the air escapes through the perforations and creates a barrier of bubbles that reduce noise.
Three local fishing vessels will be onsite to serve as safety and communication sentries. The project is also deploying a Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) system comprised of fixed buoys. Up to four PAMs will be used for real-time underwater acoustic monitoring during pile driving to characterize the presence of marine mammals by detecting vocalizations.
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
Vineyard Wind LLC is an offshore wind development company that is building the first commercial-scale offshore wind energy project in the U.S., to be located 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard. Vineyard Wind 1, based in New Bedford, Massachusetts, is 50 percent owned by funds of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and 50 percent by Avangrid Renewables, a subsidiary of AVANGRID, Inc.
(Source: Vineyard Wind – Image: DEME’s Orion heavy lift vessel)