Tech & Science

Energy giants plan 144 MW offshore wind farm and battery storage

Published

August 2, 2017

Deepwater Wind was the company behind Rhode Island’s Block Island offshore wind project, the nation’s first, that went online in December 2016. Block Island’s wind farm has five turbines and a 30 MW wind capacity.

The project will be called Revolution Wind and is a utility-scale 144 MW offshore wind farm that will be paired with a 40 MWh battery storage system provided by Tesla, reports North American Wind Power. According to CEO Jeffrey Grybowski, Revolution Wind would be the “largest combined offshore wind and energy storage project in the world.”

Vineyard Wind is one of three companies bidding on the offshore wind project.

Vineyard Wind

In a press release, Deepwater Wind states the proposal for its Revolution Wind Farm is a “direct response to the Commonwealth’s request for new sources of clean energy in Section 83D of the Act to Promote Energy Diversity. Deepwater Wind also provided alternative bids for a larger 288 MW version of Revolution Wind and a smaller 96 MW version.”

Revolution Wind would be built in Deepwater Wind’s federally leased site off the coast of Massachusetts, about 30 miles from the mainland and 12 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard. The new project will be adjacent to the company’s South Fork Wind Farm, a 90 MW project serving Long Island.

Deepwater Wind also sweetened the pot in its proposal, saying they believe they can complete the project in one construction season and would be the first company to base construction and operations in New Bedford, creating hundreds of jobs for Massachusetts.

Solar storage batteries made by Tesla in Solar City.

SolarCity/Tesla

Tesla battery storage system
Tesla’s Powerpack, a larger version of its already popular Powerwall, is a rechargeable lithium-ion battery stationary energy storage product intended for commercial or electric utility grid use and can be used for peak shaving, load shifting, backup power, demand response, microgrids, renewable power integration, frequency regulation, and voltage control.

Tesla’s battery storage unit also include projects that would help store and dispatch intermittent wind energy during high peak periods, such as the recent announcement that Tesla was going to build the world’s biggest battery (100MW/129 MWh) in South Australia.

In this article:battery storage, deepwater wind, massechusets, offshore wind, Tesla

Written By Karen Graham

We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of our dear friend Karen Graham, who served as Editor-at-Large at Digital Journal. She was 78 years old. Karen's view of what is happening in our world was colored by her love of history and how the past influences events taking place today. Her belief in humankind's part in the care of the planet and our environment has led her to focus on the need for action in dealing with climate change. It was said by Geoffrey C. Ward, "Journalism is merely history's first draft." Everyone who writes about what is happening today is indeed, writing a small part of our history.