Cape Wind Building an Operations Base on Cape Cod

Cape Wind announced on Aug. 23 that it has signed a purchase and sale agreement with the East Marine marina in Massachusetts' Falmouth Harbor to serve as the operations and maintenance facility for the 130-turbine offshore wind farm the alternative-energy purveyor plans to build on Nantucket Sound.

Cape Wind selected Falmouth because it has a marina in a protected harbor, a large storage warehouse and slips for vessels servicing the wind farm, says Jim Gordon, company president.

The purchase amount was not disclosed. “We hope to close financing for the facility next year and begin to see things go into water in 2014,” Gordon says.

So far, Cape Wind has 101 turbines under contract with Siemens, but Gordon says he is confident the company will be able to sell the remaining 23% of its power to expand to 130 turbines.

In April, Cape Wind announced it had selected as its construction contractor the joint-venture team of Flatiron Construction Corp., Denver; Cal Dive International, Houston; and Cashman Equipment Corp., Boston. Work is scheduled to begin next year.

Johanna Knapschaefer, ENR’s New England Special Correspondent, has been writing about trends in design and construction of buildings, bridges, tunnels and other infrastructure for more than a decade. She also profiles award-winning industry leaders and delves into broader construction issues such as workforce training, worker safety and health, climate change remediation and emerging offshore wind and tidal energy developments. Over the past two decades, her articles have appeared in Architectural Record, BusinessWeek, the Boston Globe, American Banker, Modern Metals, BusinessNH Magazine, Pittsburgh Magazine and many other publications. Johanna is fluent in Japanese, and taught English and academic writing in the Science and Engineering Department of Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, while living in Japan for eight years.

When not writing, Johanna enjoys mountain climbing, singing and playing her Spanish guitar.

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