Abstract: Irina Gumennik will provide an overview of the story behind the development of the Block Island Wind Farm, America’s first offshore wind farm. The Block Island Wind Farm is a 30-megawatt demonstration-scale renewable energy project located approximately 3 miles southeast off of of the coast of Block Island, Rhode Island. First proposed nearly ten years ago in response to a state mandate for an offshore wind energy project in Rhode Island waters, the project has completed construction and is expected to begin commercial operations in November. The presentation will describe the journey and lessons learned through the development process, which involved extensive stakeholder engagement, environmental studies, regulatory review, and engineering design to bring the project to successful completion.

Presented by Irina Gumennik, Project Engineer, Deepwater Wind:  Irina is a Project Engineer with Deepwater Wind, where she supports the company’s engineering and surveying activities. Irina has been actively involved with Deepwater Wind’s portfolio of projects since 2009 when she worked at Tetra Tech as an environmental consultant for the company. Irina joined Deepwater Wind’s engineering team after pursuing a graduate degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Tufts University. Irina received her BA in Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard University in 2007.

Working for Deepwater Wind, Irina has been a part of the project team through design, permitting, and construction of the Block Island Wind Farm. She has spent weeks on the water off of the coast of Block Island on survey vessels to image subsurface conditions and on construction vessels during installation of the project. As Deepwater Wind continues to develop other projects, Irina spends time both on the water for geophysical surveys and in the office processing wind resource data for projects in various stages of development.