The U.S. offshore wind industry has been instrumental in revitalizing American industries, creating thousands of jobs across the country in shipbuilding, steel manufacturing, port facilities, and more. A remarkable economic transformation is underway, driven by the burgeoning, domestic offshore wind industry, highlighting America’s ingenuity, resilience, and hard work that are critical to meet the energy needs of the future.
Through offshore wind energy, America is building a globally competitive workforce, revitalizing shipyards and ports, delivering secure and reliable American-made energy, and sparking new opportunities across a 40-state supply chain anchored in manufacturing and steel production.
Our 2025 publication, Offshore Energy at Work, showcases this remarkable economic transformation through stunning new photography, storytelling, and key industry data.
U.S. Offshore Wind Industry Impact:
- A $25 billion wave of supply chain investments that has fueled significant growth in shipbuilding and steel production.
- The widespread impact of the industry’s 40-state supply chain.
- $1.8 billion in vessel orders across 21 U.S. shipyards
- A $5 billion revitalization of U.S. ports, transforming them into hubs of economic activity from the East Coast to the Gulf Region.
South Fork Wind, the nation’s first utility-scale offshore wind farm, demonstrated the ability of American industry to assemble a supply chain for offshore wind projects. Building the project required a supply chain that stretched across at least 19 states and sparked nearly $1 billion in new investments from upstate New York and Connecticut to the Gulf Coast, supporting it and other near-term projects. Oceantic Network has identified 173 supply chain contracts associated with developer Ørsted’s South Fork Wind project, ranging from engineering and survey work to vessel construction and operation.
The Gulf played an outsized role in South Fork’s construction, leveraging its offshore oil and gas construction expertise.
- In May 2024, Louisiana shipbuilder Edison Chouest Offshore launched the first new-build service operation vessel (SOV) in the U.S., the ECO Edison, which will be used in Ørsted’s northeast projects. 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.
- 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 nacelles from the 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.
Similar stories have played out across the nation as companies rise up to meet the demand for offshore wind on our country’s coasts. Further development will continue to revitalize American shipbuilding, manufacturing, and construction.