America's first offshore wind farm, Deepwater Wind's pilot project, is under construction 3 miles off the coast of Block Island. Three liftboats of MiNO Marine design have been involved in the historic installation. Two of the liftboats are currently at work on the site at this very moment. These liftboats are owned and operated by Montco Offshore.
The L/B ROBERT went out in the fall of 2015 to help install the steel foundations for the wind turbines. As the designers of the L/B ROBERT, MiNO Marine was tasked with providing a site specific assessment to determine the risk of punch through during the installation of the jackets.
The two other liftboats currently working the Block Island windfarm installation are the L/B PAUL and the L/B CAITLIN. Although these two liftboats were not specially designed for the wind farm market, MiNO Marine aided in the quick conversion needed for them to be successful feeder vessels. As feeder vessels, the L/B PAUL and L/B CAITLIN are primarily responsible for transporting the wind farm cargo from ProvPort, RI to the wind farm site. The conversion activities involved:
