By John Engel
Dominion Energy, Ørsted and Eversource Reach Deal on Contract to Charter Offshore Wind Turbine Installation Vessel (Courtesy: Dominion Energy)
Moments after Siemens Gamesa announced that it would build a $200 million offshore wind blade finishing facility at the Port of Virginia, the first of its kind in the U.S., Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm playfully nudged the company to do even more to support a burgeoning domestic supply chain.
“We’re talking about blades installed here, we want the manufacturing here, too. No pressure or anything,” Granholm said. “This would be a great place for that!”
Granholm acknowledged that the U.S. offshore wind market is lagging its counterpart in Europe, where 25 GW of offshore wind capacity has been installed, compared to just 42 MW in the U.S. Much of the disparity can be attributed to the immaturity of the U.S. offshore wind supply chain.
The Biden administration has a goal of deploying 30 GW of offshore wind by 2030, a target IHSMarkit analysts say will be difficult to reach because of “a lack of manufacturing facilities, specialized U.S.-flagged installation and service vessels, dedicated ports plus poor power transmission infrastructure.” Read more