CT Examiner joined a number of state and local officials, employees of Eversource and Ørsted, and union officials aboard the 143-foot Cecelia Ann for what was for most their first look in person at South Fork Wind. With a maximum generating capacity of 132 megawatts, South Fork is the only commercial-scale offshore wind farm operating in the United States, producing about 6% of the electricity currently generated by Connecticut’s only operating nuclear power plant, Millstone. South Fork, which went online in March, is the first offshore wind farm to be assembled and staged off the New London State Pier, a project that dates to 2022. Each tower extended out of the water 788 feet, about 56 stories or the height of the Woolworth Building in Manhattan – taller than any building in Connecticut, according to a voice over a speaker, with blades 319 feet long, longer than a football field. Spaced a mile apart to ease navigation, the turbines seemed closely spaced against an infinite empty blue plain. Also visible is a substation that raises the voltage for sending the electricity all the way to Southport, Long Island.
Local Officials Cheer as South Fork Wind Begins Churning Out Electricity