National Grid connects Block Island to land

The subsea cable was installed between Scarborough State Beach in Narragansett, RI and Crescent Beach on Block Island. The cable will ultimately be connected to a new National Grid substation being constructed on the island and to an existing substation in Wakefield, RI on the mainland. The same cable will also interconnect the privately owned Block Island Power Company (BIPCo) to the mainland.

Until now, Block Island’s electric power needs were met through diesel-powered generation. Once the system is energised, National Grid will purchase the output from the Deepwater Wind Farm through an agreement approved by the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission and feed the power into the regional transmission system. BIPCo will purchase its power through the energy markets. A portion of that power will include output from the Deepwater Wind Farm.

“We still have several months of construction work and testing to complete before the system can be energized,” said Wynter. “We’re continuing to work closely with Deepwater Wind, BIPCo, the towns of New Shoreham, Narragansett, South Kingstown as well as state, local and federal permitting agencies to complete the project this fall.”

South Korean company LS Cable designed and manufactured the two 34.5kV cables which measures a total of 32km. LS Cable also oversaw the installation of the cable for National Grid and Deepwater Wind.

Connecting the undersea cable to newly installed underground cable on the island will be completed this week. Underground duct banks through which connecting electric cables will run have been installed in Narragansett, South Kingstown and on Block Island and approximately 90 percent of the underground cables are in place. Cable splicing, overhead line, and substation construction will continue over the summer months. Substation testing and commissioning is scheduled to begin after Labor Day (5^th September).

Last week saw the arrival of the projects 240-foot long turbine blades at Deepwater Wind and GE’s assembly facility at ProvPort, Rhode Island. Installation of the project's turbines is expected to begin in August. Each turbine tower consists of three sections, with a total height of approximately 82m, and a total weight of approximately 440t once assembled. Installation of the turbines will be carried out by the Bold Tern which underwent upgrades to carry out the work.