NEWS UPDATE: Portion of transmission cable needs to be reburied | By Renée Meyer | The Block Island Times | Wed, 01/11/2017 | www.blockislandtimes.com
Although the interconnection between the National Grid and Block Island substations is expected to be completed by April 1, there is a problem with the cable that will need to be addressed sooner than that. Recent surveying of the cable revealed that some of it is not buried at the required depth of six feet below the surface of the ocean floor.
In some areas, concrete pads have been placed over sections of cable to protect it, but that has not been deemed feasible for the section just offshore of Fred Benson Town Beach. Starting 200 feet from shore, the next 80 feet of cable are currently only three feet below the ocean, and will need to be reburied.
Block Island Power Company Transition Team member, Second Warden Norris Pike, informed his fellow Transition Team members, at their meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 10, that National Grid hoped to do the necessary work during February and March, but that an “assent” to do the work is needed by the Coastal Resources Management Council.
Given the timeframe, Pike said: “I think it’s going to be May” when the work is completed.
Town Facilities Manager Sam Bird said that as of last Wednesday, Jan. 4, when he last spoke with National Grid, no application had yet been submitted to the CRMC.
For more information on this story, see Friday’s edition of The Block Island Times.
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2017/01/13/portion-of-transmission-cable-needs-to-be-reburied/