Vineyard Wind To Resume Pile Driving For Turbine Foundations This Week

Even as it prepares to take down additional defective blades, repair others, and retrieve the remaining debris on the sea floor from the July 13 blade failure, Vineyard Wind is still forging ahead with the construction of its 62-turbine wind farm southwest of Nantucket.

Despite the turmoil and delays, the offshore wind company announced Saturday that the crane vessel Orion would be returning to the area this week to conduct pile driving and installation of the remaining monopile foundations within its lease area.

While Vineyard Wind remains under a suspension order from the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement stemming from the blade failure back in July, the federal agency subsequently modified the order to allow Vineyard Wind to resume installing towers and nacelles. It remains prohibited from installing blades and producing power.

The Orion was on its way to the area over the weekend and was located just south of Nova Scotia on Sunday. Once it arrives, Vineyard Wind outlined how it will attempt to dampen and absorb the sound generated by the pile-driving operations necessary to install the monopile foundations for the GE Vernova Haliade-X turbines being installed.

"Prior to installation, the Polaris and HOS Ruger will be working to deploy and recover a Double Big Bubble Curtain (DBBC) system around pile driving operations," Vineyard Wind stated in its announcement. "A bubble curtain is comprised of a large, perforated hose, coupled with specialized air compressors, that create a barrier of bubbles to dampen and absorb sound. Before each pile driving operation, the DBBC will be deployed on the seafloor, tested, and activated prior to the arrival of the Orion. The DBBC hoses will be deployed in two pre-determined rings around the foundation position. Installation of each bubble curtain will take approximately  two to four hours."

The precautions are being implemented out of concern for the impact of the construction activities on marine life, including the critically endangered North Atlantic right whales.

While some groups, including the Nantucket-based ACK For Whales, believe the ongoing development of offshore wind energy facilities along the East Coast is another cause of whale mortality, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has stated "At this point, there is no scientific evidence that noise resulting from offshore wind site characterization surveys could potentially cause whale deaths. There are no known links between large whale deaths and ongoing offshore wind activities."

The North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium emphasized in its latest population assessment of the species that entanglements and ship strikes remain the leading causes of right whale fatalities.