Offshore Wind Supply Chain News

The Baltic Power offshore wind project has installed the first turbine nacelles manufactured in Poland, marking a milestone for the country’s emerging offshore wind supply chain.Three 15 MW turbines have been fitted with nacelles produced at Vestas’ newly opened plant in Szczecin, the first offshore wind manufacturing facility operated by the Danish company in Poland.In total, 76 turbines will be installed at the 1.2 GW project, developed by ORLEN and Northland Power joint venture Baltic Power…

U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum ordered a halt to construction on Equinor's Empire Wind project off the coast of New York, saying information suggested the Biden administration approved it without enough environmental analysis.In a post on X on Wednesday, Burgum said the information would be reviewed further but did not elaborate on the faults identified.The sudden order marks a major blow to Norway's Equinor and the nascent U.S. offshore wind industry, which enjoyed substantial…

Euroports Group and Noatun project companies, jointly held by OX2 and Ålandsbanken Offshore Wind I, have signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) to establish Koverhar Harbour in Hanko as a key logistics hub for the construction of the offshore wind farm project Noatun North, including an option for Noatun South.The collaboration marks a significant step in strengthening Finland’s offshore wind infrastructure and securing essential port capacity to support the industry’s expansion.The Noatun North Project is expected to comprise of up to 250 turbines with a total capacity of up to 4…

One of the world’s largest base ports for offshore wind activities Port of Esbjerg and Norwegian port operator WindPort have entered into a strategic partnership to accelerate offshore wind development in Norway.The partnership focuses on joint project development and knowledge sharing in areas such as quay design, logistics, sustainable energy practices, and new fuel technologies.Sharing knowledge and experiences to power and scale the offshore wind industry are at the core of the agreement.Port Esbjerg brings expertise in handling large offshore installations…

The Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, in partnership with the National Shipbuilding Office and the Crown Estate, have appointed Cammell Laird shipyard to carry out a detailed analysis of the future market opportunity for U.K.-built ships in offshore wind. The work will help develop knowledge of how the U.K. can provide vessel manufacturing to support offshore wind, delivering jobs and economic investment to communities around the country.With over 850GW of offshore wind capacity expected to be installed globally by 2050…

With clean energy projects maturing in U.S. waters, the nation’s offshore wind industry is poised to grow substantially, requiring a robust industrial base. A feedering model using domestic tugs and barges to transport turbines to offshore wind sites, is positioned at the heart of this emerging growth.Currently, the entire global fleet of wind turbine installation vessels (WTIV)—except for Dominion Energy’s Charybdis currently under construction at the Seatrium AmFELS yard in Brownsville, Texas—is flagged, owned and operated outside of the U.S.

The first 11 MW Siemens Gamesa offshore wind turbine, out of total 65 planned, has been installed at Ørsted’s 704 MW Revolution Wind offshore wind farm in the United States.Once in operation, Revolution Wind will have the capacity to generate 400 MW of clean power for Rhode Island and 304 MW for Connecticut, enough to power more than 350,000 homes and bring both states closer to reaching their climate targets.Meanwhile, offshore construction crews continue to make steady progress installing the foundations for the turbines…

Cyan Renewables, a portfolio company of Seraya Partners, has entered into a strategic collaboration with Hyundai Asset Management to establish a robust vessel supply with strong local content for South Korea's offshore wind market.Cyan Renewables, an international maritime operator specializing in offshore wind support vessels, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Hyundai Asset Management to facilitate the strategic investment in South Korea’s offshore wind supply chain.Under the MoU…

The first-ever American-built, owned, and crewed offshore wind service operations vessel (SOV) was christened during a ceremony on Saturday in the Port of New Orleans.Edison Chouest Offshore's (ECO) recently completed ECO Edison will play an integral part of the operation and maintenance of Ørsted and Eversource’s South Fork Wind, Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind projects as the U.S. offshore wind industry continues to ramp up in the U.S. Northeast.Built at ECO in-house shipyards in Louisiana…

President Joe Biden's administration unveiled plans on Wednesday to hold up to a dozen auctions of offshore wind development rights through 2028, including four before the end of this year.The schedule will help companies, states and others plan for projects that require massive amounts of investment and infrastructure, the Interior Department said in a statement."Our offshore wind leasing schedule will provide predictability to help developers and communities plan ahead and will…

“The winds of change are blowing wild and free.” – Bob DylanIn the U.S. offshore wind industry, developments over recent months have placed an exclamation point on the word “wild”. Yes, the wind still blows “free”, but mounting challenges have proven that harnessing its power offshore is anything but. In fact, far from it, as rising materials costs, high interest rates, labor shortages and supply chain delays, among other issues, have delivered heavy blows to the commercial viability of several projects.

The U.S. offshore wind industry reached an important milestone on January 2 when Vineyard Wind 1, the country’s first large scale project, supplied first power to the Massachusetts grid.“As the nation’s first utility-scale offshore wind farm this is a fairly momentous event,” Ken Kimmell, Chief Development Officer for Avangrid, the Iberdrola subsidiary co-developing the project with Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), told Reuters Events.The turbine will be joined by 61 additional turbines to provide 806 MW of power to the grid by the end of the year…

Liberty Green Logistics LLC, an offshore wind supply chain company, acquired Renewable Strategy Ltd. (RSL), a digital platform offering marine coordination software, asset monitoring, emissions tracking, personnel records tracking, Global Wind Organization (GWO) training, consultancy and analytical solutions to the renewables and maritime industry. The platform’s software has been used through deployment in Europe, Asia and America. Most notably in the USA, RSL is the contracted Marine Coordinator for the first industrial wind farm in the USA, Vineyard Wind1.

Only one of three available areas was sold during the United States' first ever offshore wind lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday.The auction, held by the Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) offered up three sites for offshore wind development, including one in Louisiana (Lake Charles) and two in Texas (Galveston I and II). Together, the three shallow water sites contain a theoretical potential of 3.7 gigawatts (GW). While 16 companies had prequalified to participate in the auction, bid activity was subdued.

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation has signed the first ever subcontract for rock procurement for a U.S. offshore wind farm with Carver Sand & Gravel LLC (“Carver”), a U.S. quarry in the state of New York.Through this subcontract, Great Lakes will use rock produced in the State of New York to provide scour protection for offshore wind turbine foundations, and substations at Equinor and BP's Empire Wind I and Empire Wind II wind farms. The rock will be quarried locally, transported to the quayside on the Hudson River…

German energy company RWE announced it has hired Amanda Lefton as Vice President of Offshore Development, U.S. East.Lefton was previously Director of the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) during a period of sigificant growth for the U.S. offshore wind industry under direction from the Biden Administration. Lefton resigned from here position at BOEM effective January 19, 2023.RWE is one of the world's largest producers of offshore wind energy, with projects in Asia, Europe and the United States.

Maryland Governor Wes Moore on Wednesday announced goals to more than quadruple the state's offshore wind capacity to 8.5 gigawatts - enough to power nearly three million homes - as part of an effort by the state to achieve 100% clean energy by 2035.Moore is working "to establish new lease areas and strengthen the offshore wind supply chain," as well as establish grants to support the effort, the governor's office said in a statement.Maryland is among a growing number of U.S. states to set plans to achieve entirely carbon-free energy in the coming years.

Houston-based Bleutec Industries announced it has received approval in principle (AIP) from the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) for the designs of its Jones Act compliant offshore wind farm construction solution.Envisioned as an alternative to wind turbine installation vessels (WTIV), Bleutec's "binary marine installation solution" (BMIS) is a spread of DP2 vessels designed in partnership with Ohio-based naval architecture and marine engineering firm NETSCo, each engineered to be built at U.S. shipyards and operated within the U.S.

Five developers selected to build the first floating wind farms in U.S. federal watersTo support the California Energy Commission’s planning goals of 2-5 GW of offshore wind by 2030 and 25 GW by 2045 as well as a federal target to deploy 15 GW of floating wind by 2035, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has concluded the auction date for five 33-year leases offshore California. Exhibit 1 summarizes the outcome of the auction and estimates the potential of the lease areas using BOEMs standard power density formula of 3 MW per square kilometer…

The Biden administration is partnering with 11 East Coast states to accelerate the development of offshore wind facilities, including addressing supply chain issues, advancing construction and boosting jobs, the White House said on Thursday.The move is part of President Joe Biden's push into cleaner energy technologies as part of its efforts to address climate change and comes as rising prices, particularly gasoline, weigh on his agenda."The partnership will support efforts to provide Americans with cleaner and cheaper energy…

Liberty Green Logistics LLC, (Lake Success, NY) formed an offshore wind supply chain consortium to provide "Factory to Farm" logistical support and integrated supply chain services to the U.S. offshore wind industry. The consortium is on a non-exclusive basis and available as a one stop shop for developers, OEM’s, and EPC contractors, providing services ranging across ports & terminals, vessels, and supply chain logistics. Since the inception in May 2021 Liberty Green has enrolled 17 consortium members…

The Biden administration on Wednesday will hold a wind energy auction for two areas off the coast of North and South Carolina, its second such offering this year.The sale is part of the government's broad push to put wind turbines in federal waters along every U.S. coastline and comes on the heels of a record February wind auction off the coast of New York and New Jersey that drew $4.37 billion in high bids.U.S. President Joe Biden has said the nascent offshore wind industry will create good-paying jobs while creating the carbon-free electricity needed to combat climate change.

RWE Renewables, a German offshore wind giant is looking to build an offshore wind supply chain in Louisiana, one of the top U.S. oil and gas producing states. RWE said last week it would collaborate with Greater New Orleans, Inc. (GNO, Inc.) and GNOwind Alliance to build a program that will accelerate the engagement of Louisiana's supply chain with offshore wind and benefit all Louisianians. Greater New Orleans, Inc. is the regional economic development nonprofit organization serving the 10-parish region of Southeast Louisiana.Over the next six months, GNO, Inc.