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Comment by matthewdgreen | Hacker News Reader

There are two big 800 MW projects going in right now, one off Martha’s Vineyard and the other in Connecticut, both of which will begin generating power in the next year or two (the actual construction speed for these projects is amazing!) These projects were supposed to happen before the pandemic, but the Trump administration delayed them by 2-3 years. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-windpower-offshore/u-...

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> the actual construction speed for these projects is amazing!

Yes, from start to finish in well under a year in some locations depending on whether or not they can set up a nice pipeline and start producing as soon as one of the turbines is completed. The time consuming parts: permitting, infrastructural changes to the grid, environmental assessments + possible delays, foundation work. Once the foundation is in the ground I've seen operational turbines six weeks later.

For a whole windpark from start to finish the times vary from two to eight years, with off-shore the longer part of that. There is a new option called a floating windfarm, which is self evident from the name, that cuts deployment time to an absolute minimum but has some long term risks and maintenance pros and cons. Still, it is a very interesting development.

"Once the foundation is in the ground" is of course the big thing, as each foundation is unique (even if they all look the same they are specced to exactly the water depth and local spil conditions), and a lot of the installation risks are in the foundation. Rock may be harder than expected, or there might be a boulder hiding in the sandy soil. After the foundations are in, the installation of the tower, nacelle and blades is repetitive work. There should be little variance between sites left then. Weather is probably the most significant differtiating factor left.

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