Chapman Construction begins install of 800MW Vineyard Wind 1 project’s electrical service

Sandwich, MA Chapman Construction Group, Inc. (CCGI), has been awarded and is underway with construction operations associated with the completion of offshore construction, installation and commissioning of the 800MW Vineyard Wind 1 project’s electrical service platform (ESP). The wind farm will be located 14 miles southeast of Martha’s Vineyard and 35 miles off the Cape Cod peninsula. CCGI is working as a labor consultant and subcontractor with Tier 1 EPCI contractors Semco Maritime and Bladt Industries in the construction of the substation. The electrical service platform will provide electrical power generated from the Vineyard Wind project, which will be comprised of an array of 62 wind turbine generators to be installed on monopiles in water depths ranging from 121 to 181 feet in the Atlantic Ocean.

Once the electrical service platform is fully constructed and installed, two submarine export cables will transport the electricity to export cable landing points on Cape Cod, in the town of Barnstable, and will connect to a Vineyard Wind onshore substation in Hyannis and then interconnect with an existing, adjacent Eversource substation.

The wind energy project’s 3,200-ton electrical service platform was transported via ship to the offshore Vineyard Wind 1 site from Denmark, where the headquarters of EPC partners Semco Maritime and Bladt Industries are located.

Chapman Construction Group is employing a multi-skilled union workforce consisting of electricians, iron workers, carpenters, painters, and laborers for the project in a unique Project Labor Agreement (PLA) between the Southeastern Building Trades and Vineyard Wind 1 developer Avangrid Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. 

The composite crew is working as a team in completion of the electrical service platform. In the project’s construction labor agreement, crews agreed to work across jurisdictional lines. CCGI is managing multiple crews consisting of various union tradespeople working 7 days, 12 hours per day. Each crew is working on a two weeks on/ two weeks off schedule through project completion. Crews are transported by boat from the New Bedford port terminal to the Vineyard Wind site, and live in ship quarters.

Chapman Construction Group’s project team is headed by CCGI principal Vicki Chapman and Dianne Smith.

Due to the offshore location and the size of the turbines, CCGI crews and all trades workers have received Global Wind Operation (GWO) Training, consisting of rescue from heights, water safety, CPR, and Helicopter Underwater Escape Training (HUET) to be able to be transported by helicopter. SPRAT (Ropes Access) training is also required of the trade workers. A rigorous physical exam is also a part of the initial qualification for working offshore.

Onshore construction and staging operations for Vineyard Wind are taking place at the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal Facility.

Vineyard Wind 1 is the first utility-scale offshore wind energy project being developed in the United States. With an 800MW capacity, Vineyard Wind 1 is expected to meet the electrical demands of more than 400,000 homes and businesses in Massachusetts. It will generate enough wind power to prevent the emission of more than 1.6 million tons of carbon dioxide every year, the equivalent to withdrawing 325,000 vehicles from the roads. During the life of the project, a projected 3,700 million dollars will be saved in energy costs in New England.

The wind farm will create 3,600 full-time equivalent jobs and under the PLA at least 500 of the jobs created during the construction phase of the project are guaranteed to be filled by local union workers. The PLA includes high hiring targets for women and various groups facing racial discrimination in the US. Vineyard Wind 1 will meet or exceed hiring goals.

Offshore construction of the electrical service platform began in early July 2023.