An ‘Awesome’ 360° View At America’s First Offshore Wind Farm

At 5:30am on May 1, 2017, the Block Island Wind Farm replaced a local diesel generating plant and became America’s first offshore wind farm. According to Business Insider, “it will emit about 40,000 fewer tons of greenhouse gases per year than fossil fuels would to generate the same amount of energy. That’s the equivalent of taking 150,000 cars off the road.”

Though it’s just five turbines next to Block Island, located 30 miles off the coast of Rhode Island, the wind farm is designed to demonstrate the potential of offshore wind power along the New England coast. From The New York Times:

The appeal of offshore winds as an energy source goes beyond their potential role in efforts to slow global warming. As people flock to coastal cities, where land is scarce and expensive, and conventional power plants are moving toward retirement, states have looked to add new forms of power production. Moving it out to sea has become more attractive, proponents say.

The country’s coasts, home to over half the population, offer some of the strongest wind resources in the world, creating, in theory, enough energy to provide roughly four times the power the nation now produces.

In the 360° video, above, we climb to the top of one of these new turbines for an ‘awesome’ view. Below, GE shows us how they were assembled:

Wind turbine technician is currently the fastest-growing profession in the United States. Watch rock climber and wind turbine technician Jessica Kilroy inspect, maintain, and fix these giants.