From the New Bedford Wind Energy Center
The rush is on.
Companies eager to supply goods and services to the new offshore wind industry that will be built in the waters off the coast of southern Massachusetts jammed a forum in Newton, MA, today.
Organized by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, the Offshore Wind Supply Chain Forum brought together three of the developers that control leases in
Offshore wind developers and representatives of companies interested in becoming part of the supply chain for the new industry at a Massachusetts Clean Energy Center forum in Newton on Wednesday, May 31.
federal waters marked for the development of offshore wind.
Among the possible supply chain companies represented were international giants GE Offshore and Siemens, along with companies from around the US, including Gulf Island Fabrication (Louisiana), Ventower Industries (Michigan) and EEW Special Pipes Construction (Germany).
The developers and companies wishing to be part of the supply chain came together to swap information and arrange follow-up meetings. They heard speeches from Matt Beaton, Massachusetts secretary of energy; Jay Ash, the state secretary of housing and economic development; and state Rep. Pat Haddad, House speaker pro tempore and key proponent of state legislation requiring public utilities to purchase 1,600MW of offshore wind power over the next decade.
Jeff Grybowski, CEO of Deepwater Wind, which built the first offshore wind farm off the coast of Block Island (and is looking to build off Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Maryland), said about one-third of the goods and services his company used in building the project came from greater Rhode Island, one-third from Germany and the rest from companies serving the oil and gas industry in the Gulf of Mexico.
Erich Stephens, the CEO of Vineyard Wind, owned by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) said his company is committed to building both a local supply chain and workforce capacity in Massachusetts.
“CIP is in it for the long term,” he said. “(We) need balance between leaning too much on Europe and using Massachusetts companies as supply chain.”
DONG Energy’s Fred Zalcman said a successful supply chain will include partners who can help the industry in “achieving scale, standardization and (building) long-
term relationships within the host community, like in the Hull/Humber region” of England, epicenter of the United Kingdom’s multi-billion dollar offshore wind industry.