All 5 Block Island Wind Farm Turbines Now Spinning

The fifth turbine at the Block Island Wind Farm, which had not gone online with the four that started commercial operation in mid-December 2016, is now operational, and America’s first offshore wind farm is now running at full capacity.

Image: GE/ archive

The turbine number 2 had suffered scratches on 26 of its magnets, which have now been replaced by GE, the company that delivered five of its Haliade 6MW turbines for the Block Island project, according to Providence Journal.

The magnets were adversely affected by a drill bit left accidentally in the air gap of the turbine’s generator, reportedly during manufacturing in GE factory in France.

The broken turbine was put into operation earlier than originally planned, since it was expected that the repair work will take at least until the second half of this month.

Costs of repair have been covered by GE.