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Energy Center News

26 Feb 2024

New Agreement to Kickstart Salem Offshore Wind Terminal

(Image: Crowley)

The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), Crowley Wind Services and the City of Salem announced the transfer of ownership and an agreement for site improvements and ongoing operations for the Salem Offshore Wind Terminal.The agreement will kickstart the transformation of the site into the second port built specifically to support the construction of offshore wind farms in Massachusetts. The Salem Offshore Wind Terminal will also support the construction and installation…

04 Dec 2023

Alicia Barton Named CEO of Vineyard Offshore

Alicia Barton (File photo courtesy FirstLight Power)

U.S.-based offshore wind developer Vineyard Offshore on Monday announced it has named Alicia Barton as the company’s new CEO, starting in January.Barton will take over for Lars T. Pedersen, who has led the company since it was founded in 2022 and before that led the team developing Vineyard Wind, the first commercial-scale offshore wind project in the United States, now under construction.“I had the pleasure of working with Alicia during the very early days of the Vineyard Wind project and know she brings an outstanding mix of skills and talent to Vineyard Offshore,” Pedersen said.

24 Aug 2023

Morgan Stanley Gets Behind Crowley's Offshore Wind Push

A rendering of Crowley's offshore wind terminal in Salem, Mass. (Image: Crowley)

Morgan Stanley's infrastructure investment arm is teaming up with U.S. maritime, energy and logistics solutions company Crowley to advance offshore wind energy solutions for the United States.Investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners (MSIP), a private infrastructure fund platform within Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM), will hold a majority stake in Crowley Wind Services Holdings, a joint venture combining Crowley's end-to-end maritime and logistics capabilities with the financial strength and expertise of Morgan Stanley.

15 Jun 2023

Mass. Maritime Academy Offering Offshore Wind Training to Locals

© chungking / Adobe Stock

Massachusetts Maritime Academy (MMA) said it has started offering its Global Wind Organization Basic Technical Training (GWO BTT) course to community members, opening the door to those on Martha’s Vineyard interested in a potential career in the offshore wind industry.Massachusetts Maritime Academy is one of the first institutions in the Northeast to offer this type of training. The goal is to help broaden the landscape of local job opportunities in the fast-emerging offshore…

15 May 2023

Noise Mitigation: Bubble Curtain to Be Deployed During Construction of U.S. Largest Offshore Wind Project

Bubble Curtain noise mitigation system ©Vineyard Wind

U.S. offshore wind farm developer Vineyard Wind will deploy and test a secondary bubble curtain noise mitigation system during foundation installation at the Vineyard Wind offshore wind farm, the first commercial-scale wind farm installation project in the U.S.For this, the company is investing in ThayerMahan, a firm that specializes in seabed surveys, acoustic mitigation and monitoring, and other maritime-related services, with facilities in Connecticut and Massachusetts. The $5 million in funding comes from Vineyard Wind's Industry Accelerator Fund…

28 Apr 2023

Protecting Offshore Energy Sources via USV

Photo courtesy Mr. Dave Meron

When most people discuss energy sources such as fossil fuel and green energy, it is from an “either-or” perspective. Some favor the former while others advocate for the latter. However, what is often lost in the arguments on both sides is that regardless of the type of energy being extracted or generated, those platforms that are offshore, especially oil rigs, oil and gas pipelines, and wind farms, are incredibly vulnerable to anyone who wants to attack these sources in wartime…

06 Feb 2023

EVENT: Reuters U.S. Offshore Wind Returns to Boston

Copyright Cavan/AdobeStock

Reuters Events has officially launched their flagship offshore wind event, US Offshore Wind 2023 (USOW23) being held in the Hynes Convention Center, Boston, July 11-12, 2023.The event will unite more than 1000 offshore wind developers, utilities, OEMs, financiers, and supply chain executives, hosting industry-breaking discussions covering all corners of project development, from permitting through to construction.Click here to see the Speaker and Agenda line-upU.S. Offshore Wind ConfEx 2023 will feature more than 70 speakers across two tracks…

28 Sep 2022

Partners Awarded $50 Million to Create Clean Hydrogen Cluster in South Louisiana

(Image: Greater New Orleans)

The U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) earlier this month awarded a $50 million federal grant to H2theFuture, a 25-organization partnership aiming to develop a new energy cluster in South Louisiana, spanning the clean hydrogen life cycle, from R&D at Louisiana universities, to an end-use project at the Port of South Louisiana.The award is one of 21 projects from around the country chosen from 529 applicants that were funded by a $1 billion appropriation from the American Rescue Plan Act…

18 Aug 2022

Next US Energy Boom Could Be Wind Power in the Gulf of Mexico

© Mosto / Adobe Stock

With passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which contains US$370 billion for climate and energy programs, policy experts are forecasting a big expansion in clean electricity generation. One source that’s poised for growth is offshore wind power.Today the U.S. has just two operating offshore wind farms, off of Rhode Island and Virginia, with a combined generating capacity of 42 megawatts. For comparison, the new Traverse Wind Energy Center in Oklahoma has 356 turbines and a 998-megawatt generating capacity.

12 May 2022

Mass Maritime Puts on Offshore Wind Training Demo for Governor Baker

Photo Courtesy Massachusetts Maritime Academy

Governor Charlie Baker, Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Secretary Bethany Card, and Massachusetts Clean Energy Center CEO (MassCEC) Jennifer Daloisio joined Massachusetts Maritime Academy (MMA) officials for a Global Wind Organization (GWO) training demonstration at the Academy. Nearly three years since helping launch MMA’s first-in-the-nation offshore wind crew transfer training facility, Governor Baker returned to observe a wind and life raft training and highlight the investments the Baker-Polito Administration is proposing to expand the offshore wind workforce further.

29 Mar 2022

Engine Issues Led to Tanker Striking Dock in Corpus Christi -NTSB

Riverside before the casualty. (Photo: Glory Riverside Navigation LTD)

An incorrect solution to address a main engine start issue led to the contact between an oil tanker and a loading dock in the Port of Corpus Christi, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Tuesday.The agency published a marine investigation report detailing its investigation into the March 15, 2021, contact of the oil tanker Riverside with Moda Ingleside Energy Center No. 4 loading dock near Ingleside, Texas. The vessel was carrying more than 717,000 barrels of crude oil and was bound for Lisbon, Portugal. No injuries or pollution were reported.

16 Mar 2022

Massachusetts Maritime Academy Teams Up with Union Apprentice Program for Offshore Wind

© MMA

With the passing of the historic infrastructure bill in August 2021, the backbone of the United States will undergo a transformation over the next several years, and for this, workers will be needed in all facets of the construction industry.Building Pathways South (BPS), a pre-apprenticeship program in Southeastern Massachusetts, is preparing young adults for opportunities available today as well as down the road, including in the growing U.S. offshore wind industry.Yvonne Tobey…

14 Sep 2021

Cotta Named Supply Chain Manager for Mayflower Wind

Will Cotta (Photo: Mayflower Wind)

Massachusetts offshore wind developer Mayflower Wind announced it has hired Will Cotta as its supply chain manager.Cotta, who has experience working with the Mass Clean Energy Center and the offshore wind industry, is charged with growing Mayflower’s supply chain in the New Bedford and Fall River area as well as across Massachusetts.“Will has the knowledge, insights and experience that enables him to make sure that offshore wind development is done in a manner that is fully compatible with existing ocean uses and with environmental stewardship in mind.

24 Aug 2021

Crowley, Massachusetts Maritime Academy Setting Up Offshore Wind Training

Credit: Crowley Maritime Corporation

Crowley Maritime Corporation and Massachusetts Maritime Academy (MMA) said Tuesday they'd create a first-of-its-kind training and workforce development program dedicated specifically to the New England region’s offshore wind energy industry.The program will be certified by the Global Wind Organisation (GWO), a non-profit that sets international standards for safety training. The academy will coordinate with Relyon Nutec, the world’s largest provider of specialized instruction for energy and industrial sectors…

13 Aug 2021

Burns to Lead Mass. Maritime's Work in Renewable Energy

Capt. Michael R. Burns Jr.  (Photo: Massachusetts Maritime Academy)

The Massachusetts Maritime Academy (MMA) announced Capt. Michael R. Burns Jr. as the first Executive Director of the Academy’s Maritime Center for Responsible Energy (MCRE). In this new role, Capt. Burns will oversee the MCRE that was established in August 2021 to deliver training to the renewable energy industry, develop robust, collaborative relationships with renewable energy stakeholders, and coordinate all the Academy's renewable energy efforts. Capt. Burns will lead all aspects of the Center’s work…

23 Jan 2020

Safely Navigating the Winds of Change

The first-in-the-nation offshore wind training facility will be located at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.In late October, with much fanfare, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, Stephen Pike, CEO of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center and many others joined officials from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy (MMA) to launch the first-in-the-nation offshore wind crew transfer training facility. The group of state and college representatives also officially christened a new training vessel. The event underscored the efforts at MMA to both support, but also take full advantage of what stakeholders believe is the advent of offshore wind here in the United States.The training facility…

07 Nov 2019

Moda Midstream to Enhance MIEC to Allow VLCC's

A VLCC loads crude oil in the port of Corpus christi, Texas (Image: port of Corpus Christi)

U.S. oil export terminal operator Moda Midstream LLC said on Thursday it has begun to enhance its Moda Ingleside Energy Center (MIEC) in Ingleside, Texas, to allow the docking of larger-sized vessels.Moda has begun structural enhancements and dredging to Berth 5 and improvements to Berth 4, which will allow for the docking of Suezmax class vessels and Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs), respectively, the company said in a statement.The company said it was evaluating construction of an additional pipeline called the Moda Ingleside Express Pipeline…

06 Nov 2019

GE Haliade-X 12MW Blade Arrives in US

The blade for GE’s Haliade-X 12MW offshore wind turbine has arrived at MassCEC’s Wind Technology Testing Center (WTTC) in Boston, U.S.The 107-meter blade will undergo a series of fatigue tests that involve moving it millions of times over the period of a few months to validate that it can withstand more than 25 years of operation at sea. The testing is part of the process of commercializing GE’s Haliade-X 12 MW turbine -- the most powerful in the industry -- by 2021, strengthening the company’s ability to compete in a market steadily gaining momentum in the U.S. and globally.“This has really been a collaborative effort on the part of the company to be part of solving the challenges associated with the energy transition," said GE Chairman and CEO H. Lawrence Culp, Jr.

25 Oct 2019

Massachusetts Maritime Academy Opens Wind Training Facility

The crew transfer training facility is a critical component of a comprehensive safety training program to be offered by Mass Maritime. Image: MMA

Baker-Polito Administration Celebrates the First-in-the-Nation Offshore Wind Training Facility Located at Massachusetts Maritime Academy. MMA steps out in front to train the professionals who will make the coming wave of domestic offshore wind.Today, Governor Charlie Baker, Lt. Governor Karyn Polito, Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Kathleen Theoharides, and Stephen Pike, CEO of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, joined officials from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy to launch the first-in-the-nation offshore wind crew transfer training facility.

11 Mar 2019

Bristol, JDR Launch Offshore Wind Pact

Massachusetts-based Bristol Community College and JDR Cables, supplier of subsea power cables and umbilicals and a part of the TFKable Group, have launched new collaboration to train the future workforce for the global offshore wind industry.President Laura L. Douglas, Ph.D., of Bristol Community College, and Business Development Manager, at JDR, Neil Brown, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to provide technical job training as part of New England’s emerging offshore wind industry.They were joined by the British Consul General to New England, Harriet Cross, and Chief Executive Officer of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC)…

27 Jan 2019

Moda Midstream Announces Ingleside VLCC Berth Upgrades

Liquids terminaling and logistics provider Moda Midstream announced it has successfully commissioned upgrades to Berth 2A at the Moda Ingleside Energy Center (MIEC) in Ingleside, Texas, to enable loading of very large crude carriers (VLCCs).Moda developed these upgrades to provide existing and potential customers the ability to safely and cost-effectively load VLCCs at rates of up to 80,000 barrels per hour.“Today we are loading our fourth VLCC at MIEC since late December,” said Moda President and CEO Bo McCall. “With today’s commissioning of our upgrades to Berth 2A, we now have the U.S. Gulf Coast’s most efficient crude export loading rates.

26 Dec 2018

Soldier-run PDVSA and AWOL Oil Output

© natanaelginting/Adobe Stock

Last July 6, Major General Manuel Quevedo joined his wife, a Catholic priest and a gathering of oil workers in prayer in a conference room at the headquarters of Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA.The career military officer, who for the past year has been boss at the troubled state-owned oil company, was at no ordinary mass. The gathering, rather, was a ceremony at which he and other senior oil ministry officials asked God to boost oil output."This place of peace and spirituality…

13 Dec 2018

Offshore Wind: SeaTwirl Secures Funding

Swedish floating wind turbine player SeaTwirl has joined the Ocean Energy Scale-Up Alliance (OESA) that has been granted funding from the Interreg North Sea Region.SeaTwirl is a vertical floating wind turbine that was tested off the west coast of Sweden in 2011. It is also the name of the company that produces the turbine.OESA, which is coordinated by the Dutch Marine Energy Center, has been granted funding from Interreg North Sea Region for a three-year project which aims to accelerate the deployment of large-scale ocean energy pilots in the North Sea.13 partners are tied to OESA, where eight of the partners will provide services for the pilot projects of the remaining five.The service providers are Dutch Marine Energy Center…