Offshore wind has been making headway as a legitimate source of renewable energy. This summer, natural gas and electricity distributor National Grid announced it had completed a cable project to deliver electricity from the nation’s first offshore wind farm in Rhode Island—Deepwater Wind’s Block Island Wind Farm—to the grid.


The 20-mile undersea cable known as the sea2shore project will connect Block Island Wind Farm to the Rhode Island mainland. The 34.5-kilovolt submarine cable was installed between Scarborough State Beach in Narragansett and Crescent Beach on Block Island. It will ultimately be connected to a new National Grid substation on the island and to an existing substation in Wakefield, on the mainland. 


The same cable will connect the privately owned Block Island Power Company (BIPCo) to the mainland.


The 30-megawatt (MW), 5-turbine Block Island Wind Farm facility is scheduled to go online this year. The island, which thus far has been powered by diesel fuel, only has about a 4MW power demand. The farm is expected to supply most of that power and deliver plenty of excess to the mainland grid.


The sea2shore project required nearly 5 million pounds of undersea cable. Before it can start delivering power, the undersea cable must be connected to a newly installed underground cable on the island. Underground duct banks, through which connecting electric cables will run, have been installed, along with approximately 90 percent of the underground cables. 


Cable splicing, overhead line and substation construction will continue until substation testing and commissioning begin after Labor Day 2016.


The entire Block Island Wind Farm project cost about $300 million, according to Deepwater Wind. However, the company estimates it will reduce island electric rates by 40 percent.


While this project is notable because it is the first of its kind, the more important aspect is that it won’t be the last. Industry analysts expect it to spur other offshore wind projects to get off the ground.


“It’s go time,” said Deepwater Wind CEO Jeffrey Grybowski in a press release. “We’re ready to bring this historic project across the finish line.”