Rhode Island ferry company enters into offshore wind service agreement with Deepwater Wind

NORTH KINGSTOWN – Deepwater Wind LLC on Monday announced a 20-year charter services agreement with Rhode Island Fast Ferry Inc. for the building and operations of an “offshore wind service workboat.”
The vessel would be built and purposed specifically for Deepwater’s Block Island Wind Farm, which comprises five 6-megawatt offshore wind turbines being built nearly three miles off Block Island’s shore.
Rhode Island Fast Ferry, as a part of the agreement, is launching a new division dedicated to commercial wind support services called “Atlantic Wind Transfers.” The company says the boat, once built, would be the first-ever U.S.-built “crew transfer vessel.”
Rhode Island Ferry is slated to commission Warren-based Blount Boats Inc. to build the vessel, which the company says will secure about 70 jobs through the estimated one-year building period. The vessel would then require five to six full-time jobs throughout the 20-year lease agreement, which coincides with the expected lifetime of Deepwater’s wind turbines.
“We are very excited to be a part of this offshore wind farm project and to work with Deepwater Wind,” said Charles A. Donadio, president of Rhode Island Fast Ferry, in a statement. “Launching Atlantic Wind Transfers and building the first crew transfer vessel in the United States with local company Blount Boats is not only good for the state of Rhode Island, but it will also provide for future growth and enhance the capabilities of our company in the U.S. offshore energy sector.”
A Deepwater Wind spokeswoman would not disclose financial details pertaining to the agreement, but Rhode Island Fast Ferry is expected to invest more than $4 million to build the vessel and provide the necessary training to “meet the needs of the Block Island Wind Farm,” according to the release.
Marcia Blount, president of Blount Boats, said in a statement that the company is honored to build the “first U.S. flagged windfarm vessel in the United States.”
“The vessel is designed specifically to turbine transfer service,” Blount said. “We enthusiastically join an all-Rhode Island team of windfarm, operator and boat builder.”
The three companies expect the boat, once built, would begin providing services for Deepwater Wind in spring 2016. Once the wind farm project is completed, the boat would then work in an “operating and maintenance support” capacity, which includes a scheduled maintenance program throughout the terms of the agreement, according to the release.
The firm’s dockage facility is at Quonset Point, which will provide as the launch off point for “convenient access to the Block Island Wind Farm,” according to the release.
Jeffrey Grybowski, Deepwater Wind CEO, said in a statement that he’s excited to partner with the two Rhode Island companies.
“More importantly, this will mean more jobs in the marine trades for Rhode Islanders and another way that the Ocean State will lead the growth of this new American offshore wind industry,” Grybowski said.
The wind farm, which is expected to generate about 125,000 megawatt hours of electricity annually, would provide 90 percent of Block Island’s demand and about 1 percent of the rest of the state’s demand. National Grid, Rhode Island’s largest utility provider, has a contract to purchase energy from the wind far for 20 years.
The project is expected to come online in fall 2016.

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