Cape Wind picks staging port

UNITED STATES: The 468MW Cape Wind project will use the Massachusetts Marine Commerce Terminal in New Bedford as its staging area.

The terminal is currently under construction (pic: Massachusetts Clean Energy Centre)

President of developer Cape Wind Associations, Jim Gordon, said the project would apply to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to change its plans to use the port, in New Bedford.

The deal will also see Cape Wind become one of the first tenants in the terminal, currently under construction on the US' northeast coast.

The staging area will be used to prepare the 130 Siemens 3.6MW turbines to be installed at the project site.

Cape Wind had previously applied to use the Quonset Business Park at the Port of Davisville in Rhode Island as a potential staging area. Cape Wind will retain the option to use the facility if necessary.

In August, the project developers selected a joint venture between Weeks Marine and Manson Construction to serve as the lead construction contractor for the offshore project.