Orsted advances Maryland offshore wind supply chain with $14m steel fabrication plant
Danish developer’s investments total some $30m to date towards $113m pledged for manufacturing and workforce training to serve local and regional industry
Global offshore wind pacesetter Orsted broke ground last week on its multimillion-dollar Advanced Foundation Component Centre in Maryland as part of its supply chain and workforce development efforts to support its 966MW Skipjack project.
The $14m steel fabrication facility is being co-developed with American contractor Riggs Distler on 40-acres (16.2 ha) of land leased by Orsted from the state’s massive 3,300-acre Tradepoint Atlantic manufacturing and logistics hub in Baltimore County.
The 125 skilled union ironworkers, electricians, welders, and other skilled labourers employed at the site will supply steel offshore wind components for both Skipjack and the broader offshore wind sector.
“Our new centre at Tradepoint Atlantic will enable us to advance the construction of our offshore wind portfolio, deliver clean energy to millions of American homes and further position Maryland as a long-term offshore wind energy hub,” said David Hardy, Group CEO Americas, at Orsted.
“Maryland is going to be the home and leader in offshore wind in this country,” Moore said. This facility “is a great foundation for that.”
The state has already procured nearly 2GW of capacity over two rounds from Orsted as well as US Wind, owned by Italian renewables company Renexia, which is developing the 1GW MarWin and Momentum Wind projects.
The foundation components built at the new steel fabricating facility “will be some of the most significant pieces of offshore wind energy equipment produced in the US,” Orsted said. They will include external platforms, anode cages, and suspended internal platforms ranging in size from 12 to 150 tonnes and as tall as 14 metres.
Many of the components produced at the Tradepoint Atlantic facility will first be prefabricated at Crystal Steel Fabricators in Federalsburg on Maryland’s eastern shore. Orsted and Crystal Steel entered into a landmark, $70m supply agreement in 2021 that will create 50 new Maryland jobs.
Despite contracts with the state and increasing supply chain investments, Orsted has not yet submitted a construction and operations plan (COP) for Skipjack to federal regulators.
Every offshore wind project’s COP must be submitted for extensive and thorough environmental review by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and multiple other federal agencies. The review typically takes several years to complete.