Block Island Wind Farm Compliance Monitoring

United States

First Offshore Wind Facility In The United States

Challenge

As a condition of both state and federal approvals, the Block Island Wind Farm and Sea2Shore Transmission System required independent environmental compliance monitoring during construction and installation. Achieving permit compliance during final project phases can be challenging, and often requires the ability to balance project modifications or develop new methods when unexpected conditions occur in the field. Furthermore, the presence of multiple contractors working simultaneously on different project components created a higher level of sensitivity because one issue of non-compliance could directly affect other activities.

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Basement Impact Assessment

Solution

TRC provided third-party environmental compliance monitoring to support the construction and installation of 30 MW Block Island Wind Farm and 20-mile Sea2Shore Transmission System relying upon our extensive offshore wind energy experience to provide practical compliance insight for CRMC and the Owners while still advancing the project. TRC’s responsibilities included monitoring project construction activities, confirming compliance with required construction best management practices (BMPs), and monitoring contractor and project compliance with stringent environmental protection requirements on behalf of CRMC.

As a key liaison between the developer and the regulators, TRC helped establish comprehensive, efficient, and integrated monitoring methods, reporting protocols, and communication strategies.

Our scientists conducted both daily report review and periodic on-site inspections of environmental compliance during construction, which included turbine foundation installation, horizontal directional drilling (HDD), and offshore and onshore transmission cable installations. If environmental issues arose, TRC worked proactively with the project team to make real-time adjustments to minimize environmental impacts before the construction schedule or budget was affected.

Results

The Block Island Wind Farm and Sea2Shore Transmission System was completed in 2016. TRC’s proactive approach, permitting expertise, and offshore wind energy experience allowed us to identify problems early and suggest solutions with enough lead time to make beneficial project adjustments. Through our involvement in large, complex environmental monitoring projects like the Block Island Wind Farm, we find that our tactics not only reduce environmental impacts, but can prevent larger issues like work delays and unexpected project costs.