Block Island Wind Farm

Wind Project Site

Title: Block Island Wind Farm

Status:

In Operation

Project Manager:

Ørsted

Turbine Developer:

GE Wind Energy

Foundation Manufacturer:

Gulf Island Fabrication

Website:

External Link

Construction Start:

July 26, 2015

Operation Start:

December 12, 2016

Info Last Updated:

August 4, 2023

Contact:

Info
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Details

Technology:

Fixed Offshore Wind

Project Scale:

Commercial Farm

Turbine Model:

Haliade 150-6 MW

Hub Height:

100 m

Rotor Diameter:

150 m

Number of Turbines:

Capacity per Turbine:

6 MW

Installed Capacity:

30 MW

Support Structure:

Jacket Foundation

Inter-Array Cables:

34.5 kV

Export Cables:

AC, Buried Seafloor Cables

Export Cable Voltage:

34.5 kV

Number of Export Cables:

Cable Landfall:

Horizontal Directional Drill

Physical Site:

Shallow Water (<60m), Marine, Hard-Bottom Habitat

Water Depth:

22-31 m

Distance from Shore:

6.1 km

Country:

United States of America

State:

Rhode Island

Description

Block Island is the first commercial offshore wind farm in the United Sates and is located off the coast of Rhode Island, covering 2 square kilometres. The offshore wind farm began commercial operation in December 2016. It is composed of 5 Haliade 150-6 MW GE turbines, for a total of 30 MW of installed compacity. The project uses pile driven jacket foundations made by Gulf Island Fabrication.

Location

Block Island Wind Farm is located 6.1 km (3.8 miles) from Block Island, Rhode Island (U.S.) in the Atlantic Ocean.

Licensing Information

Permits and/or permission obtained by the following agencies:

2014: Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM), Water Quality Certificates
2014: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Right-Of-Way (ROW) Grant
2014: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACORE), Department of the Army Construction Permit
2012: Town of New Shoreham Zoning Board of Review, Special Use Permit for the Block Island Substation

Project Timeline

December 2016: Farm becomes completely operational
April-September 2016: Construction Phase 2
July-October 2015: Construction Phase 1
2015-2016: Hard bottom survey
2015-2019: Recreational vessel survey
2013-2019: Ventless lobster survey
2012-2019: Monthly demersal trawl surveys
2012: Essential Fish Habitat survey
2009-2011: Passive and active acoustic bats survey
2009-2011: Land based and offshore bird studies
October-November 2008: Passive acoustic monitoring of marine mammals
2006-2010: NEXRAD data collection

Key Environmental Issues

The Block Island Wind Farm is the first facility to be studied under BOEM’s Realtime Opportunity for Development Environmental Observations (RODEO) study. RODEO aims to make direct, real-time measurements of the nature, intensity, and duration of potential stressors during the construction and initial operations of selected offshore wind facilities. Observations were made during the installation of the wind turbine foundations, the installation of the turbine towers, and during early operations.

Metadata Documents

Effects of the Block Island Wind Farm on Benthic and Epifaunal Communities (Fonseca et al. 2024)
Acoustic Impacts of Offshore Wind Energy on Fishery Resources: An Evolving Source and Varied Effects Across a Wind Farm’s Lifetime (Mooney et al. 2020)
Offshore Wind Energy and Benthic Habitat Changes: Lessons from Block Island Wind Farm (Hutchison et al. 2020)
Offshore Wind Farm Artificial Reefs Affect Ecosystem Structure and Functioning: A Synthesis (Degraer et al. 2020)
Effects of the Block Island Wind Farm on Coastal Resources: Lessons Learned (Carey et al. 2020)
Considerations for Offshore Wind Energy Development Effects on Fish and Fisheries in the United States: A Review of Existing Studies, New Efforts, and Opportunities for Innovation (Perry and Heyman 2020)
Offshore Wind Development in the Northeast US Shelf Large Marine Ecosystem: Ecological, Human, and Fishery Management Dimensions (Methratta et al. 2020)
Offshore Wind Projects and Fisheries: Conflict and Engagement in the United Kingdom and the United States (Haggett et al. 2020)
Benthic and Epifaunal Monitoring During Wind Turbine Installation and Operation at the Block Island Wind Farm, Rhode Island - Project Report (Hutchison et al. 2020)
Seafloor Disturbance and Recovery Monitoring at the Block Island Wind Farm, Rhode Island – Summary Report (Khan and Smith 2020)
Underwater Acoustic Monitoring Data Analyses for the Block Island Wind Farm, Rhode Island (HDR 2019)
Field Observations During Wind Turbine Operations at the Block Island Wind Farm, Rhode Island (Elliot et al. 2019)
Benthic Monitoring During Wind Turbine Installation and Operation at the Block Island Wind Farm, Rhode Island – Year 2 (Bartley et al. 2019)
Flatfish habitat use near North America's first offshore wind farm (Wilber et al. 2018)
Field Observations During Wind Turbine Foundation Installation at the Block Island Wind Farm, Rhode Island (Amaral et al. 2018)
Benthic Monitoring During Wind Turbine Installation and Operation at the Block Island Wind Farm, Rhode Island (Bartley et al. 2018)
Block Island Wind Farm Lobster Ventless Trap Survey (Griffin and Carey 2018)
Observing Cable Laying and Particle Settlement During the Construction of the Block Island Wind Farm (James et al. 2017)
Monitoring the acoustic effects of pile driving for the first offshore wind farm in the United States (Newhall et al. 2016)
Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to Specified Activities; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to Construction of the Block Island Wind Farm (National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) 2014)
Issuance of Incidental Harassment Authorizations to Deepwater Wind for the Take of Marine Mammals Incidental to Construction of the Block Island Wind Farm and Block Island Transmission System (National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) 2014)
Construction and Post-Construction Avian and Bat Monitoring Plan Block Island Wind Farm (Tetra Tech Inc. 2014)
Deepwater Wind Block Island Environmental Assessment and Statement of Findings (US Army Corps of Engineers 2013)
Block Island Wind Farm and Block Island Transmission System Environmental Report/Construction and Operations Plan (Tetra Tech Inc. 2012)
Pre-Construction Avian and Bat Survey Report (Tetra Tech Inc. 2012)

Phase	Stressor & Receptor	Design and Methods	Results	Publications	Data
Baseline	Birds	Onshore Sea Watch Surveys Tetra Tech conducted onshore point count surveys from July 2009 through June 2010.	Complete A variety of bird species were observed, mostly onshore birds. Shore birds, waterfowl, and wading bird species where also observed in large numbers. Relatively small numbers of gulls and tern species were recorded.	Tetra Tech Inc. 2012	No data publicly available.
Baseline	Physical Environment	Study of Benthic Community In 2009, preliminary engineering and environmental analyses of the Study Area were conducted.	Complete Sensitive areas to be avoided were identified.	Khan and Smith 2020, US Army Corps of Engineers 2013	No data publicly available.
Baseline	Birds	Onshore Raptor Migration Survey Tetra Tech conducted fall raptor migration surveys in 2009 using standardized visual count methods for raptors. The primary observation point was located on the south-eastern coast of the island at Southeast Lighthouse.	Complete Biologists observed far fewer total raptors compared to other regional sites, with few sighting of Merlin hawks, Cooper’s hawks, and bald eagles.	Tetra Tech Inc. 2012	No data publicly available.
Baseline	Reptiles	Visual Monitoring Visual monitoring of sea turtles was conducted continuously throughout pre-construction and construction to prevent noise-producing activities during times of high mammal activity.	Complete If sea turtles were observed within the 300-m safety exclusion zones during a 30-minute period and before the ramp-up began, surveying utilizing noise producing equipment was delayed until they moved out of the area.	US Army Corps of Engineers 2013	No data publicly available.
Baseline	Birds	Acoustic Monitoring Tetra Tech deployed avian acoustic monitoring equipment within the Study Area during the 2009 late summer–early fall migration period, and again in spring 2010. The Lewis-Dicken’s Farm monitoring station was deployed on August 20 and operated until October 11, 2009. The third unit was deployed at the MERLIN radar near Southeast Lighthouse and operated from August 20 to October 31, 2009. Each of the three units was redeployed in spring 2010 on April 15, and they were removed on May 31. A fourth detector was deployed on the central portion of the southern coast but did not record reliably and was therefore excluded from analysis.	Complete Calls were recorded from 3 different species groups. More calls were recorded at Lewis-Dickens’ Farm than at Southeast Light or at New Harbour.	Tetra Tech Inc. 2012	No data publicly available.
Baseline	Birds	Boat Based Survey Offshore boat-based surveys were performed on 32 different days during a 366-day survey period from July 16, 2009, to June 24, 2010, and again from August 31, 2011, to September 21, 2011.	Complete Surveyed bird groups with the greatest number of species included seabirds, followed by waterfowl and gulls. Few species of loons, terns, and shore bird were observed.	Tetra Tech Inc. 2012	No data publicly available.
Baseline	Birds	Offshore Aerial High-Definition Videography During the 2009 and 2010 survey period, the 20 transect (70 segments) grid was sampled nine times. Flights were performed once per month starting in August 2009 and ending in April 2010.	Complete A total of 40.5 hours of survey video (4.25 hours per survey) were recorded, during which 3,482 individual birds were counted in the video. The videography survey provided limited information on species composition but provided useful data on bird abundance. The bird numbers were low in the fall and winter.	Tetra Tech Inc. 2012	No data publicly available.
Baseline	Birds	Merlin Radar Between February 2009 and September 2011, Tetra Tech deployed and operated a DeTect MERLIN avian radar unit near the Southeast Lighthouse on Block Island. The radar unit collected data on avian targets utilizing the coastal waters off the southeast corner of the island within the project Study Area.	Complete The survey was able to provide continues monitoring and showed peak activity at dawn on late summer mornings, likely due to early morning foraging.	Mizrahi et al. 2010	No data publicly available.
Baseline	Birds	Carcass Survey Volunteers searched for and recorded carcasses at multiple beach locations for one year prior to project operation.	Complete Each survey found low numbers of carcasses.	Tetra Tech Inc. 2014	No data publicly available.
Baseline	Bats	Passive Acoustic Monitoring In spring 2009, summer and fall 2009, and spring of 2010, passive bat monitoring was used to assess bat occurrence on the island and to identify the characteristics of the bat community present.	Complete Most bat activity was recorded during the fall from migratory tree roosting bats. Low overall bat diversity and activity levels were found in the Study Area. The results of active and passive monitoring were consistent.	Tetra Tech Inc. 2012	No data publicly available.
Baseline	Fish	Essential Fish Habitat Survey In 2012, an Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) survey was conducted at the Study Area.	Complete Cable routes were established to avoid sensitive habitats.	US Army Corps of Engineers 2013	No data publicly available.
Baseline	Bats	Active Acoustic Monitoring In 2009 and 2011, active bat acoustic monitoring surveys were used onshore and offshore to collect data on species composition and activity levels on the island and in the offshore portion of the Study Area.	Complete Most bat activity was recorded during the fall from migratory tree roosting bats. Low overall bat diversity and activity levels were found in the Study Area. The results of active and passive monitoring were consistent.	Tetra Tech Inc. 2012	No data publicly available.
Baseline	Invertebrates	Lobster Ventless Trap Survey From March to October in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018, lobsters were caught and released.	Complete Data, including sex, carapace length, egg status, disease prevalence, shell hardness, cull status, and V-notch, were used to understand presence.	Griffin and Carey 2018	No data publicly available.
Baseline	Bats	Vesper Radar In fall 2009 and spring 2010, Tetra Tech deployed a DeTect VESPER vertical profiling radar on the western side of the island to sample a vertical column of air.	Complete Bats used the air space above the island very little in the fall and spring. Results align with the acoustic monitoring.	Tetra Tech Inc. 2012	No data publicly available.
Baseline	Marine Mammals	Visual Monitoring Visual monitoring of marine mammal activity was conducted continuously throughout pre-construction and construction to prevent noise-producing activities during times of high mammal activity.	Complete If marine mammals were observed within the 300-m safety exclusion zones during a 30-minute period and before the ramp-up began, surveying utilizing noise producing equipment was delayed until they moved out of the area.	US Army Corps of Engineers 2013	No data publicly available.
Baseline	Bats	NEXRAD NEXRAD was used to look at pervious bat behaviour in the Block Island Study Area. Data were queried for 2006-2010, divided into seasons, and analysed to determine if the proposed project location hosted increased activity compared to other sites in the area.	Complete Data indicated that the site did not host the greatest levels of activity when compared to the other sample sites for all years, all months, and at all times of day, including during spring migration.	Tetra Tech Inc. 2012	No data publicly available.
Baseline	Marine Mammals	Acoustic Monitoring Two passive acoustic listener systems were deployed between October 6 to November 11, 2008, within 4 km of Block Island.	Complete Results resulted in limiting pile driving from May to October to avoid migratory periods for critically endangered species such as the North Atlantic right whale.	Miller et al. 2009, US Army Corps of Engineers 2013	No data publicly available.
Operations	Collision Birds	Carcass Survey Carcass surveys were performed during year 1 and year 3 of operation, during which volunteers recorded carcasses at multiple beach locations.	Complete Each survey found low numbers of carcasses. There was no way to determine each bird’s cause of death.	Tetra Tech Inc. 2014	No data publicly available.
Operations	Habitat Change Fish	Trawl Study Between October 2012 and September 2019, monthly data from randomized trawl lines were collected in three areas.	Complete Results showed no difference between operation and pre-construction.	Carey et al. 2020	No data publicly available.
Operations	Habitat Change Invertebrates	Lobster Ventless Trap Survey Between May and October, from 2013 to 2019, bimonthly data were collected in two areas.	Complete Catch rate was lower during operation but ovigery rates increased.	Carey et al. 2020, Griffin and Carey 2018	No data publicly available.
Operations	Habitat Change Marine Mammals	Seafloor Video Captures 47 towed video transects were dropped at 130 locations between summer of 2015 and 2016.	Complete Data indicated that disturbed sea floor was recovering.	Carey et al. 2020	No data publicly available.
Operations	Lighting Bats	Acoustic Vessel Monitoring Between March-October 2016, two construction vessels with deck lights were deployed with a minimum of two bat acoustic detectors per boat.	Complete N/A	Tetra Tech Inc. 2014	No data publicly available.
Operations	Noise Fish	Underwater Sound Monitoring Underwater acoustic and seismic signals were measured and recorded during winter (20 December 2016 to 7 January 2017) late summer (2 October to 3 November 2017) conditions. In addition, extended underwater acoustic monitoring also was conducted over 100 days during summer 2017 (15 July to 24 October 2017). Stationary hydrophone located 50 m-100 m from wind turbines.	Complete The overall conclusion from the operational phase underwater acoustic monitoring is that given the 1) low levels of sound recorded by the various sensors under differing environmental and weather conditions and 2) very low probability of these low levels causing potential harm to fish, operational phase underwater acoustic monitoring may not provide much additional value for future facilities. As part of a risk mitigation plan, this monitoring phase could be bypassed.	Elliot et al. 2019	No data publicly available.
Operations	Noise Fish, Invertebrates	Acoustic pressure gradients Acoustic pressure gradients were determined using underwater acoustic monitoring data separately collected during 1) the BIWF Phase 1 construction and 2) turbine operations. These data were used to compute acoustic particle acceleration.	Complete The results were compared to findings and observations from review of available and relevant acoustic particle velocity literature. Findings from the construction phase data analyses were also compared to results from operational phase data analyses.	HDR 2019	No data publicly available.
Operations	Noise Marine Mammals	Underwater Sound Monitoring Underwater acoustic and seismic signals were measured and recorded during winter (20 December 2016 to 7 January 2017) late summer (2 October to 3 November 2017) conditions. In addition, extended underwater acoustic monitoring also was conducted over 100 days during summer 2017 (15 July to 24 October 2017). Stationary hydrophone located 50 m-100 m from wind turbines.	Complete The overall conclusion from the operational phase underwater acoustic monitoring is that given the 1) low levels of sound recorded by the various sensors under differing environmental and weather conditions and 2) very low probability of these low levels causing potential harm to marine mammals, operational phase underwater acoustic monitoring may not provide much additional value for future facilities. As part of a risk mitigation plan, this monitoring phase could be bypassed.	Elliot et al. 2019	No data publicly available.