Oceantic Network

The Oceantic Network, formerly known as the Business Network for Offshore Wind, is the premier member-based organization dedicated to growing the offshore wind and other ocean renewable industries and their supply chains.

Image for By Fishermen For Fishermen: How Sea Services Forged a Partnership with Offshore Wind

By Fishermen For Fishermen: How Sea Services Forged a Partnership with Offshore Wind

Oceantic Network

Near the docks of New London, Connecticut, a co-op of fishermen are making history.

Established by fishermen for fishermen, Sea Services North America serves as the bridge between offshore wind developers and commercial fishermen. Their mission is to improve safety on the open water and create opportunities for local watermen to earn extra income by providing guard, scouting, and environmental compliance services to the growing clean energy industry.

It’s challenging work — led by a group of longtime fishermen in New England — that requires the trust of local communities, a deep knowledge of the services and certifications offshore wind developers need, and an ability to build partnerships between two groups that have often found themselves at odds.

Over the past three years, Sea Services has successfully trained over 80 independent and active fishermen who are now supporting offshore wind projects. To date, fishermen in the seven states where Sea Services operates have received over $10 million in income for their work.

“This is about building real opportunity for real fishermen who wouldn’t have that opportunity without offshore wind,” Sea Services Co-Founder and CEO Gordon Videll said.

Through working with the first-of-its-kind co-op, local fishing captains receive safety and offshore wind project training for themselves and their crew, plus new safety equipment and other upgrades for their vessels. This ensures all Sea Services crews and vessels are brought to the highest levels of international marine safety standards, per the requirements of Ørsted, Sea Services’ first customer.

Videll said the extra work serves as supplemental income for fishing vessels that have reached their catch quota and otherwise would be docked and not earning revenue. The money also helps offset the costs of keeping their vessels maintained and other business expenses. For veteran fishermen, it’s been a pathway to a few more years of work in a less physically demanding role. And for some younger folks, Videll said the safety training has served as the first rung of a career ladder that can lead to higher paying jobs on larger vessels.

Meanwhile, offshore wind developers working with the co-op can access safe and knowledgeable crews with an unparalleled understanding of the ocean — in particular, the waters around a developer’s project. In an industry focused on risk mitigation, companies want cost-competitive scouting and safety vessels that can identify potential conflicts, reduce delays, and protect both their project assets and marine life.

“We talk fish, and we talk offshore wind,” said Gary Yerman, a fisherman of over 50 years and co-founder of Sea Services. “We can make linkages that no one else has been able to make and do that at scale.”

Despite the benefits Sea Services’ work has yielded for fishing communities, they still face pushback — and at times animosity — from fishermen who oppose the offshore wind industry. Yerman, who owns a large seafood company in New London, said he too was initially unsure about the impact of offshore wind on his precious fishing grounds and livelihood. But he kept asking tough questions of Ørsted, which each time returned to him with real answers until he was confident in the partnership.

The collaboration with Ørsted was non-traditional, with skepticism from both sides about their ability to work together, and uncertainty as to whether the fishermen could meet the high international safety standards being introduced to them. Now, several years into a fruitful and growing co-op, they’ve proven the model a success. Sea Services supported America’s first commercial-scale offshore wind project, South Fork — from the early days of site investigation, through cable lay and turbine installation — and are now aiding in development of Revolution Wind.

The co-op has also submitted a bid to provide scout and safety vessel services for Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Project in partnership with Virginia-based B&C Seafood, and its subsidiary Ocean Watt Safety. The two groups have already completed fleet and crew prep, getting Virginia fishermen trained and their vessels upgraded. Next, Sea Services will expand into new service areas; managing fishing gear claims, providing offshore fishing liaison officers, distributing project information, and strategic project de-risking.

Sea Services and B&C Seafood have co-bid to provide services to Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Project. (Credit: Sea Services North America)

While Sea Services represents a uniquely beneficial partnership yet to be replicated elsewhere in the U.S., other types of companies are also getting involved in surveying and environmental compliance.

On the West Coast, developer RWE is beginning site investigation for its Canopy Offshore Wind Farm, which will require underwater surveying as well as Protected Species Observers (PSOs) above the water. Connecticut’s Geo SubSea and California’s Coastal 35 Consulting will provide PSOs on survey vessels 24/7 to detect and collect observation data on marine wildlife. Additionally, RWE has selected Seattle’s Smultea Sciences to provide PSO training to Tribal citizens and residents of nearby Humboldt County, California with the goal of increasing local workforce opportunities.

You cannot have offshore wind without ports. This simple fact has already launched $4 billion in new investments into waterfront cities up and down the East Coast, putting thousands of Americans to work building enormous civil infrastructure projects. For decades to come, these towns will serve as bustling operations hubs with vessels and maintenance crews offering communities a new lifeblood of commerce and opportunity. Offshore wind’s U.S. port needs are enormous, and the work completed to date is just a fraction of what the nation will inevitably build to support the new industry.

Oceantic Network has identified 25 U.S. ports currently involved in offshore wind or undergoing development to support the industry, with dozens more rumored or planned. These range from $20 million projects, like smaller Crew Transfer Vessel (CTV) operations and maintenance (O&M) ports and modest manufacturing quays, to enormous all-in Marshalling & Assembly plus O&M developments like Equinor’s $861 million South Brooklyn Marine Terminal (SBMT). The Network, using closely tracked data from the U.S. offshore wind market, conservatively estimates that the current public and private investment into offshore wind ports stands at $4.2 billion.

Those projects have put Americans to work in short-term construction jobs and long-term operations activities.

As of July, the U.S. had six currently operating offshore wind ports including New Bedford Commerce Terminal, MA; Foss Marine Terminal in New Bedford, MA; New London State Pier, CT; Port of Providence, RI (ProvPort); Port of Davisville, RI and Portsmouth Marine Terminal, VA. According to public reports, their collective construction has supported at least 1,000 jobs, and their operations will sustain another 400 annually. The nearly completed New Jersey Wind Port has already supported more than 200 jobs, and SBMT’s construction is projected to create 1,000 more in the heart of New York City.

Some ports under development will anchor long-term manufacturing investments. The New Jersey Wind Port, for example, is expected to sustain 1,500 jobs when fully complete, with manufacturing facilities adjacent to long-term Marshalling and Assembly operations activities. Rhode Island is already excelling at attracting these investments. ProvPort has evolved into offering storage, bunkering, and secondary steel manufacturing for two different commercial-scale projects, creating 120 jobs annually for the past 3 years. The Port of Davisville is also planning its future around the long-term operations and maintenance needs of offshore wind. Operator Quonset Development Corp. has so far invested $175 million of a $234.5 million master plan that aims to position the port to service projects for decades to come — whether that be by sea, or by air. Already, the port is playing a key role as a hub for South Fork O&M.

Much of the industry’s early activities are taking place in America’s northeast, home to smaller ports that once beamed with shipping, shipbuilding, and fishing activities. The New London State Pier, originally developed in the late 1800s as a ship-to-rail connection, was largely considered underutilized as of five years ago. Now, public officials are using offshore wind as a catalyst to make major facility upgrades to handle both traditional cargo and renewable energy. As a Marshalling & Assembly port, New London is already supporting the construction of three commercial-scale projects totaling 1,750 MW. The project is a prime example of how strategic investments can revitalize forgotten areas.

Similarly, the New Bedford Foss Marine Terminal, previously a derelict fossil fuel plant, is set to become a major multi-tenant O&M and laydown hub. Salem, MA, once home to an old coal plant, is undergoing a similar transformation to become the Salem Offshore Wind Terminal, another prominent Marshalling & Staging facility. And in Baltimore, MD — where Tradepoint Atlantic now sits where the largest steel mill on the East Coast used to operate — the city will soon feature both foundation and cable manufacturing facilities. These projects will bring hundreds of millions of dollars in manufacturing investment, employ hundreds of new clean energy trades people, and mark a return to the region’s industrial roots.

The economic revitalization of areas such as New Bedford, Salem, and Tradepoint Atlantic highlights how offshore wind supply chain development is driving investment into underutilized infrastructure and creating a platform for new middle-class clean energy jobs.

Ensuring that there is a consistent, long-term stream offshore wind projects utilizing these repurposed sites is equality important. For example, New London and ProvPort are expected to remain continuously busy for at least four years, supporting the construction of South Fork Wind, Revolution Wind, and soon, Sunrise Wind. However after that, the ports may face utilization gaps and potential job reductions due to inconsistent offshore wind project deployment. While, both New London and ProvPort have been listed as preferred locations in new offshore wind project proposals, construction and manufacturing activities for those project will not begin again until later in the decade.

Without consistent offshore wind project demand, existing offshore wind port facility may need to transition again to support other industries, newly trained workers may move to other jobs, and it will become even harder to finance and build the additional port capacity we need to support our national and state-level offshore wind deployment goals.

Port financing is already a major bottleneck in the U.S. offshore wind industry. Last year, the Oceantic Network published, Building a National Network of Offshore Wind Ports, authored by Clean Energy Terminals’ Brian Sabina and the Network’s Ports Working Group. The report highlighted the need for at least 65 new U.S. offshore wind port facilities, requiring at least $36 billion in new investment over the next decade. While these figures may sound substantial, $36 billion is approximately 4-6% of the expected private sector investment in U.S. offshore wind generation projects over the next 35 years. And, without this enabling investment, offshore generation projects can’t be built.

The U.S. offshore wind industry urgently needs more investment into port facilities. Increasing public sector grant funding, at both the state and federal levels, that is specifically targeted to these projects is critical not only to meet deployment timelines and but also attract greater amounts of private sector funding, too. New London, for example, attracted $100 million direct private investment from Ørsted and Eversource after the state’s early commitment of public funds for the project. The Network’s paper highlights other financing support structures states could use to spark private investment, like revenue guarantee, which would help cover debt-service payments if a privately financed port was inactive due factors outside of its control (such as the uneven deployment facing the East Coast ports mentioned above). Such smart financial tools help spread risk between the public and private parties and attract significant attention from traditional infrastructure investors.

The promise of economic development from offshore wind will be realized in our ports. However, it will only be realized with expanded strategic infrastructure investments, the use of new smart financing approaches, continuous project pipelines, and a continued faith in the path forward. Redevelopment in New Bedford has transformed the harbor town into an offshore wind hub. The $300 million invested in New London has sparked a local economic renaissance and is supporting a multi-state supply chain all the way to Texas. The four billion dollars already injected into U.S. offshore wind ports may only be a crumb of what is ultimately needed, but it is already having a tangible impact on American communities along, and far from, the coast.

When the ECO Edison steamed into the Port of Providence earlier this month, it made one thing clear: Offshore wind is a powerhouse of potential for U.S. shipbuilding.

Born in the Louisiana bayou, ECO Edison will serve as a key piece of the multi-decade operations and maintenance supply chain tasked with keeping northeastern wind projects running smoothly. Construction of the $97 million Service Operations Vessel (SOV) took more than two years and put at least 600 Americans to work. The project’s broader supply chain – where everything, from steel and engines to interior paneling and electronics, was sourced – reached 34 states.

The ECO Edison is one of 50+ newbuild and retrofitted vessels announced in response to the more than 12 GW of offshore wind power offtake agreements states have contracted — a fraction of the overall state demand which now surpasses 115 GW, including codified targets and planning goals. Combined, the current vessel orders are bringing at least $1.7 billion into 13 U.S. shipyards across eight states, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Northeast, and even in the Great Lakes.

As the ECO Edison showed, the impact of such projects reaches far beyond a shipyard’s docks. Using collected supplier contract data, the Oceantic Network found these 13 shipyards are sourcing from steel plants in seven states often far from the coast, including Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Engines and other major components parts were sourced out of Illinois, Indiana, and Georgia. Just one vessel, the $650 million Wind Turbine Installation Vessel (WTIV) Charybdis being constructed in Brownsville, Texas pulled steel from Alabama, Texas, West Virginia, and North Carolina.

The shipyards themselves are major job creators, often serving as long-term employment hubs in rural communities. Using public data and member interviews, the Oceantic Network found just five shipyards (out of the 13 identified as having worked on offshore wind vessels) have collectively employed more than 2,500 people that helped build offshore wind vessels. Interviews with this growing industry’s demand. Wally Naquin of Edison Chouest said the new orders have helped his community deal with declining opportunities from less oil and gas work. “We don’t have to do any layoffs because of the [offshore] wind industry. Its renewed, not just our shipyard, its renewed southeast Louisiana [because] we [are] keeping people working.”

Estimates offer a glimpse into the sheer magnitude of demand for offshore wind shipbuilding. For example, federal researchers determined the industry would require 58 Crew Transfer Vessels (CTVs) under the Biden Administration’s 30 GW of offshore wind energy by 2030 goal. Another estimate from analyst group Intelatus Global Partners finds that total swells to 130 for an 87 GW market. That equals a $1.14 billion opportunity for U.S. yards for just one vessel classification – and the smallest one at that!

CTVs are the workhorses of the offshore wind maritime industry, ferrying technicians on daily trips to and from turbines. As smaller vessels usually tied to individual wind farms, they are the easiest to finance and can be manufactured at many U.S. shipyards. As of today, U.S. yards have launched ten new CTVs, retrofitted three others, and have 17 on order, several of which the Network anticipates launching in the next couple of months. To meet the estimated industry requirements for the 30 GW target, however, would require that fleet to double.

As vessel classifications grow larger, they become harder to finance and fewer yards have the capabilities to build them. For example, SOVs like the ECO Edison can cost upwards of $100 million to construct. These “floating hotels” allow technicians to spend weeks at sea during both installation and maintenance periods. Besides the Eco Edison, two more SOVs are well underway at the Edison Chouest yard in Houma, Louisiana and the Fincanteri Bay Shipbuilding yard in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. Three others have been retrofitted from existing oil and gas assets, with a fourth currently in progress. Federal researchers estimate 13 are needed in total to meet the 30 GW goal, meaning another requirement to double.

Progress continues on the hull of a Crew Transfer Vessel (CTV) at the Senesco Marine shipyard in Rhode Island.

Installation vessels have proven the hardest to build in the U.S., and currently only two are under construction: the aforementioned $650 million Charybdis and the $250 million scour protection vessel Acadia, which recently laid its keel in Philadelphia. This vessel classification faces three simultaneous challenges. First, financing a vessel requires several years of contract guarantees; installation vessels go from project to project, and with market fluctuation and the lack of a clear, long-term development pipeline, lining up even a few years of contracts is difficult. Second, certain installation activities do not require the use of U.S.-built vessels, meaning prospective owner-operators will face stiff foreign competition once the vessel is launched. (This has, however, opened the door to new, innovative installation techniques, leading to increased tug and barge construction). Finally, there are a limited number of U.S. yards capable of building a WTIV, which can drive up prices and slow production.

Solving the installation vessel conundrum is one of the most important policy challenges facing the U.S. offshore wind market. Because of their specialized nature, supply is low globally, and demand is only increasing. The loss of an installation vessel can have cascading detrimental impacts on a wind farm’s deployment, even leading to overall project cancellation.

Offshore wind is not alone; similar challenges are facing U.S. shipbuilding across the board including the defense sector, domestic shipping, and other maritime activities. In the years since World War Two, the number of American shipyards capable of handling vessels of 500 feet or more has dwindled from 50 down to just 20 today. Securing the U.S. offshore wind industry requires addressing the entire shipbuilding sector — energy, commercial, and defense — with targeted investments in yard capacity and new financing and insurance mechanisms so that U.S. yards can produce globally competitive offshore wind vessels.

Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO) is playing the long game. In May, the Louisiana shipbuilder christened the first American-made service operations vessel (SOV) for the U.S. offshore wind industry –– the result of ECO’s decades of honed naval expertise and the cultivation of a relationship with clean energy developer Ørsted, among others.

ECO Edison, which was commissioned by Ørsted to support its Northeast projects, helps fill a gap in the growing clean energy industry that demands a fleet of dozens of specialized vessels, many of which must also be Jones Act-compliant. The project also allowed Edison Chouest (ECO) to continue supporting its existing employees, and create new roles that increased its labor pool, ECO’s Vice President of Renewables Michael Braid said.

“We have also opened offices in New York and Rhode Island and will continue to expand our resources in each,” Braid said. “We never underestimate the value and opportunity to keep creating new projects for our team and future hires.”

The May 2024 christening of ECO Edison, the first new-build SOV in the U.S., constructed at the Edison Chouest shipyard in Louisiana. (Courtesy: Edison Chouest)

ECO has been a lynchpin for the industry’s vessel needs, and has supported phases of engineering, construction, permitting, and operations and maintenance (O&M) at South Fork, Vineyard Wind, and Revolution Wind utilizing existing, modified, or new build vessels and services. Combined, their work has resulted in 16 charters totaling about 67 vessel years.

On the horizon, the company will deliver a second new build SOV for the Empire Wind project next summer, and in 2026 will complete two, new build articulated tug and barge feedering vessels in support of Maersk’s new wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV). ECO was also recently listed as Avangrid’s preferred supplier of a new build SOV to support the developer’s New England projects.

Oceantic Network spoke with Braid about ECO’s journey in offshore wind. From their initial engagement with Ørsted to the delivery of ECO Edison, the interview offers a look at the factors that drew the company into the industry, what’s keeping them there, and what the future might hold for the legacy Gulf shipbuilder. Let’s dive in.

Oceantic: When did you identify offshore wind’s potential for new business growth?

Braid: We have been monitoring the sector’s rapid growth in Europe through our joint venture partner Island Offshore for the last 12-15 years. We were always confident that at some stage the U.S. sector would flourish, so we positioned ourselves early to move with the tier-1 contractors so that we earned experience through the first wave of projects. We have been very fortunate to work with established contractors on wind farm engineering, procurement, and construction services in the U.S. such as Boskalis, Jan De Nul, DEME Group, and Nexans. They have been excellent partners to work with; their depth of knowledge and experience in the sector is unparalleled, which allows us first-hand experience to learn from the best in this new and burgeoning sector.

Our first engagement was with Ørsted for their long-term SOV at South Fork, Revolution, and Sunrise offshore wind farms back in 2018-2019. We ended up executing a contract with them in 2020 and have since worked very closely with their teams and expanded our services to them across multiple verticals. The first project we undertook was with DEME using the Laney Chouest to plough at South Fork ahead of their vessel laying export and array cables last year.

Oceantic: What factors did you consider when you decided to take on the ECO Edison project?

Braid: When we look at new build projects, we first look at the intricacy to measure competitiveness, and then it’s really down to who the client is. We model ourselves on long-term relationships, therefore this project being a “first of its kind” in the U.S. with a leading player such as Ørsted, was very attractive.

Oceantic: Why was Edison Chouest well-suited to take on this project?

Braid: This project was a perfect example of how a vertically integrated organization can add more value and de-risk very sensitive projects. We held all the critical components for this in-house and leveraged our capabilities, so the client and project realized this was the only viable solution.

  • We design our vessels in-house with our team of naval architects and engineers and have been doing so for decades.
  • We have our own dedicated U.S. shipyard group covering four yards across three states that build exclusively for ECO.
  • We have our own marine procurement affiliate that supports our nearly 300 strong fleet, which delivers purchase power and efficiencies.
  • We own our own component suppliers such as Marine Technologies, which provides dynamic positioning and control systems for the bridge, communications systems, and the control systems for the integrated gangway system.
  • We employ our mariners directly and train them in our facility in Louisiana, providing them with free access to continue their career trajectory and performance growth.

This is not exhaustive, but showcases what separates us from any other offshore ship owner in the world.

Oceantic: How does ECO Edison compare to other vessels ECO has built in the past?

Braid: We covet complex projects because we can utilize our full breadth of capabilities, and ECO Edison certainly delivered that! It isn’t the largest project we have taken on, but Ørsted was clear in their targets for how the SOV would operate so we knew it was going to be a very close collaboration to achieve those efficiencies. We have built a cruise ship and delivered many yachts from within our wider group, so we knew we had the experience and capabilities in-house to deliver the high-quality accommodations and amenities the client required.

Oceantic: What new elements did the project present?

Braid: Designing, then building, a vessel with an integrated motion-compensated gangway was new for us, but the team at Ulmatec worked closely with us so we could undertake as much as possible from the U.S., such as building the tower ourselves and delivering our own control package. We also built the aluminum workboat, which is a 12-meter Chartwell design –– another first for us. We select our partners closely, so we had comfort in the end product meeting the quality we and Ørsted require.

Liz Burdock, President and CEO of Oceantic Network, tours the ECO Edison vessel.

Oceantic: How do you envision your role in offshore wind going forward?

Braid: We have a target of providing integrated marine-based services through a single contracted American solution covering subsea, marine logistics and topside integrity management. ECO will be looking to offer full O&M-based services in the future, so watch this space.

Bonus Question: Have you given a name to Eco Edison’s new mini-CTV?

Braid: TEE ED, which means little Ed, referencing big Ed being the ECO Edison.

The U.S. offshore wind vessel fleet is quickly expanding with four new crew transfer vessels (CTVs) launched in the first quarter of 2024, and construction of the first U.S.-based wind turbine installation vessel nearing completion. Read the latest updates on the industry’s steel and shipbuilding supply chain in Oceantic Network’s Quarterly Market Report.

In mid-May, Network staff had the opportunity to visit the first completed offshore wind project in the United States, South Fork Wind, which announced the completion of construction on March 15, 2024. South Fork Wind is only the beginning of a 115,000 MW at-scale clean energy transition that is beneficial to both to the environment, and the American industrial economy that builds it. The 12-turbine project generates 132 MW of clean electricity and delivers it to the Long Island grid, enough to power over 70,000 homes and jumpstart New York State’s march to its 9,000 MW offshore wind goal.

The project is also a test case for the potential offshore wind has to be America’s next great industry. Building the modestly-sized project required a supply chain that stretched across at least 19 states sparked nearly $1 billion in new investments from upstate New York and Connecticut to the Gulf Coast supporting it and other near-term projects. The Network has identified 173 supply chain contracts associated with the South Fork Wind project, ranging from engineering and survey work to vessel construction and operation. From those investments and contracts, the Network can track at least 2,000 Americans who worked in manufacturing and construction jobs alone that supported the project – a total that does not include the long-term operations and maintenance jobs created to support the project’s two-decade lifespan, or the hundreds of planning, development, or lower tier supply chain jobs. American unions are serving as the backbone of these projects and filling many of the jobs with locals who supply labor for port redevelopment, component manufacturing, turbine installation, and maintenance work.

As was the case with America’s first test project, Block Island Wind Farm, the Gulf of Mexico played an outsized role, leveraging its offshore construction expertise to give new opportunities to legacy oil and gas suppliers.

On May 10, industry leaders and government dignitaries, like U.S. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Congressman Troy A. Carter, Sr. (LA-02), came together in New Orleans for the launching of the first new-build SOV in the U.S., the ECO Edison. The $100 million vessel put 600 individuals to work at the Edison Chouest shipyard in Southern Louisiana and yielded a supply chain reaching 34 states. While constructed in the Gulf, the Edison will operate more than 1,500 miles away, safely housing and transporting workers during weeks-long deployments for Ørsted’s Northeastern projects, such as South Fork Wind and its under-construction big brother, the 704 MW Revolution Wind.

The May 2024 christening of ECO Edison, the first new-build SOV in the U.S., constructed at the Edison Chouest shipyard in Louisiana. (Courtesy: Edison Chouest)

Further west, Texas’ Gulf Copper retrofitted an existing barge that operator Crowley used to transport the turbine blades — as long as a football field — and massive nacelles from port to the South Fork installation site. In Corpus Christi, Texas, Kiewit Offshore Services manufactured the first American-made offshore wind substation with the help of 350 workers in the Gulf and in Kansas. Gulf operators like Otto Candies and Guice Offshore also brought vessels out of the Gulf to support installation activities. In the case of Otto Candies, their vessels were even retrofitted in the Gulf to better serve the offshore wind industry.

South Fork Wind also featured the first American-manufactured offshore wind components. Export cables, which carry power from the American-made offshore substation to shore, were manufactured near Charleston, South Carolina in Nexans’ new $200 million facility that employs 200 locally (and exports globally). Long Island’s Haugland Group put 100 to work building the onshore transmission system that linked the export cables from the shore to the grid, and Roman Stone provided the concrete mattresses that protect the cables. In western New York, Ljungström invested $10.7 million to revive an ailing steel mill and hired 200 more people to meet the demand from offshore wind. The facility provided the steel for Riggs Distler’s $40 million plant in the Port of Providence (ProvPort) where more than 100 trades workers manufactured huge internal steel cages and external platforms that allow workers to access the foundation and tower base.

Offshore wind’s need for port space and access is immense, and the development of South Fork Wind helped inject hundreds of millions in new investments into northeastern ports, such as Port Jefferson in New York where the Eco Edison will be stationed. To support installation activities, $310 million went into redeveloping the New London State Pier in Connecticut, which yielded an estimated 400 jobs and a world-class offshore wind marshalling port where towers, blades, and nacelles are housed as they await transit to the wind project. Now complete, the pier will support at least two more wind farm installations –– Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind. In Rhode Island, ProvPort has been transformed into a vital hub for the industry by providing manufacturing, storage, and general operations services for the industry as it supports installation activities off New England. On the day the Network visited, the Cade Candies — a vessel out of Louisiana and retrofitted to work on offshore wind — was docked. This is a common occurrence at ProvPort where dozens of Gulf assets have already called.

Above: The substation at South Fork Wind, the first of its kind manufactured in the U.S. It was built in Corpus Christi, Texas by Kiewit Offshore Services.

Further down the bay, the Port of Davisville is undergoing its own $200 million redevelopment in part to support its role as an operations and maintenance hub for South Fork Wind and other projects. At the neighboring airport, HeliService USA has transported up to 180 workers per day by helicopter to perform installation and maintenance activities at northeast projects. By water, WindServe Marine and American Offshore Services are operating five Crew Transfer Vessels (CTVs) for project developer Ørsted’s northeastern projects, all manufactured at nearby Rhode Island shipyards Senesco Marine and Blount Boats; Senesco has on hundreds of workers to support manufacturing of these and other offshore wind vessels. Each of these companies are employing scores of workers who will be transporting turbine technicians and operators out to project sites for decades to come.

South Fork Wind provides a window into the economic opportunity offshore wind presents the nation. Just readying the U.S. to build this 12-turbine project sparked hundreds of millions in new investments and put at least 2,000 people to work in manufacturing and construction jobs. Harder to quantify are the hundreds that supported the project by performing engineering and survey work — such as Haley & Aldrich, Inspire Environmental, Keystone Engineering, or Woods Hole Group — or local supply businesses like Red Ironworks and Miller Marine, who provided critical construction support.

The U.S. market is now accelerating deployment with three projects, all multitudes larger than South Fork Wind –– the 704 MW Revolution Wind project that will heavily rely on the supply chain developed by South Fork Wind, the 800 MW Vineyard Wind 1, which is primarily based out of Massachusetts, and the 2,587 MW Coastal Virginia project. Many more projects are in the development pipeline as U.S. states have already collectively set goals for more than 115,000 MW of offshore wind.

Oceantic Network releases its U.S. Offshore Wind Quarterly Market Report in April, July, and October. Each report builds off our U.S. Offshore Wind Annual Market Report and provides key analysis of both federal and state government activities impacting the U.S. offshore wind industry. The quarterly reports ensure companies are informed on offshore wind industry developments affecting their business.

Notable milestones for the first three months of 2024 include Ørsted and Eversource’s completion of South Fork Wind project in March. Next up is Vineyard Wind, to be completed later this year, which also began delivering power to the grid. Meanwhile, two new projects, which are collectively triple the size of South Fork and Vineyard, were announced to begin installation this summer.

The report details important developments that affected the U.S. offshore wind industry in the first quarter of 2024, including: 

  • BOEM increased the total capacity approved for construction by over 30% as the U.S. more than quintupled its installed offshore wind capacity – from 42 MW to 242 MW. 
  • U.S. Forged Rings announced a new $700 million tower and forge facility to be located on the East Coast, an investment made purely based on the strength of the U.S. market. 
  • Another 4,000 MW of projects are expected to begin installation activities this summer. 
  • New IRS tax guidance will drive down costs for a range of offshore wind activities across the East Coast. 
  • Four new crew transfer vessels, the workhorse of the offshore wind industry, have launched in just the past three months.  
  • New offtake awards contain provisions supporting supply chain investments throughout the East Coast. 

For weekly U.S. offshore wind updates, subscribe to the Offshore Wind Insider newsletter.   

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