The United States' Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) said it has conducted an inspection at the South Fork Wind project, marking the agency’s first inspection of an operational offshore wind turbine in U.S. waters.
Located offshore New York and Rhode Island, 130 megawatt South Fork Wind is the nation’s first commercial wind farm on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).
“This first wind turbine inspection is critical for industry, BSEE, and the nation as domestic offshore wind transitions from installation and commissioning activities to daily clean power production, operations, and maintenance,” said BSEE Director Kevin Sligh. “BSEE is committed to ensuring the safe and environmentally responsible development of the nation’s offshore wind energy industry, and inspections are a critical step in that process.”
BSEE is the lead federal agency for developing workplace safety and environmental compliance strategies for offshore energy projects on the federal OCS. The BSEE inspection team evaluated South Fork’s risk analysis, procedures, and controls from the onshore control and coordination center. They also went offshore to observe control, coordination, pre-job planning, crew transfer, and drill performance as well as to conduct a visual inspection of the turbine.
“BSEE will continue inspections of both the offshore turbines and the onshore control centers and provide oversight of each operator’s safety management system through drills and exercises, and evaluations of assets and personnel management,” said BSEE Renewable Energy Operations Director Cheri Hunter. “These actions will ensure that lessees have the capabilities and technical expertise to safely operate facilities in an environmentally responsible manner throughout the entire lifecycle of the windfarm.”