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Project Submission: Offshore Wind Training Expansion in New Jersey
The Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters (EASRCC), a regional council under the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America (UBC), has been training America’s workforce for over 145 years. For the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, keeping up with an ever-growing industry requires continuous investment in educational resources. This international organization consists of 16 regional councils across the United States. The Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters (EASRCC) is one regional council that represents and trains more than 40,000 members in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C. They operate 18 state-of-the-art training facilities across this region.
In anticipation of work created in the renewable energy sectors by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, the EASRCC expanded their existing training center and purchased a dive school to form the EAS Heavy Construction, Pile Driving, and Offshore Wind Training Facility in Hammonton, New Jersey and the EAS Dive School in Sicklerville, New Jersey.
This New Jersey location is central to the entirety of offshore wind development along the East Coast. It is the only facility of its kind to provide cutting edge, hands-on training in the full complement of skills needed to power renewable energy development and provide the most diverse workforce for offshore wind development.
Project Submission: Construction of the First U.S. Flagged Jone Act-compliant SRI Vessel
Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company, LLC is fully engaged in the rapidly developing U.S. offshore wind market. Its first step in this effort is the investment into the construction of the first U.S. flagged Jones Act-compliant, subsea rock installation (SRI) vessel. The vessel is currently under construction and will set new standards for efficiency and innovation with its large capacity, accurate placement technology, innovative battery, and alternative fuel system.
The company’s journey to seize this unique, once-in-a-generation opportunity to enter the offshore wind market is complex and challenging. Challenges include:
Project Submission: A Holistic Approach to Offshore Wind Investment
The Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) was an early supporter of the offshore wind industry. MEA and the State of Maryland have sought to establish a competitive offshore wind supply chain in the state. MEA has taken a holistic approach to creating an offshore wind market consisting of Maryland-based businesses and skilled workers. This approach includes investments in strategies to de-risk offshore wind development, decrease the levelized cost of energy of offshore wind projects, centralize Maryland as an offshore wind supply chain hub for the east coast, and increase the economic opportunities available for businesses and individuals.
MEA has accomplished this by:
Project Submission: New Jersey Wind Port
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has established an aggressive and achievable vision of 100 percent clean energy by 2050, and the New Jersey Offshore Wind State Plan helps set the course for New Jersey to achieve this vision through the responsible development of offshore wind energy. The 2019 New Jersey Energy Master Plan estimates that offshore wind will supply 23 percent of the state’s clean energy in 2050.
The State of New Jersey is constructing the first purpose-built greenfield offshore wind port in the United States. The New Jersey Wind Port is an essential infrastructure investment that will generate thousands of high-quality green jobs and offer a platform to realize our clean energy future. This port will be a major manufacturing and assembly hub for the wind industry in the United States.
New Jersey is perfectly located at the center of the East Coast wind belt and has committed to generating 11 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2040. The New Jersey Wind Port is positioned just north of the Delaware Bay at Lower Alloways Creek, at the heart of the East Coast wind belt. The port has open access to the Atlantic Ocean, over 200 acres of flexible land, no vertical restrictions and is centered near a robust trade and technical workforce.
The port can efficiently support co-located marshaling and large-scale manufacturing and is within a day’s steaming distance of more than half of U.S. offshore lease areas. The marshalling and manufacturing facility will be one of the few in the United States and its proximity to proposed wind energy projects and scale makes it essential to the future of wind energy in the Northeast. To date, the state has committed close to $500 million for this critical infrastructure investment.
Project Submission: Prioritizing American Steel in U.S. Offshore Wind Projects
The purpose of this project was to develop an incentive for using more American steel in offshore wind developments. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, (NYSERDA) has taken a wholistic and inclusive approach to meet the Buy American Steel New York State legislation applied to all structural iron and steel for their offshore wind projects.
To achieve this goal, attention to the needs and unique requirements of the major impacted entities were included in the process:
Meeting these competing demands was a challenge; however, the unique methodology chosen ensured the results were achievable, did not create any disincentives to any entity and the desired results were achieved. To ensure the team had the necessary information we conducted interviews of steel mills, secondary steel manufacturers, component manufacturers, and suppliers and consulted Labor.
The result is a $114,000 dollar per megawatt American steel requirement that developers must include in each project. The $114,000/ MW is approximately 10% of the total cost of the steel products included in an offshore wind project. This will add approximately one-quarter of a billion dollars into the U.S. steel and supply chain to support offshore wind projects based on the expected addition of up to 2,000 MW of New York’s offshore wind generation. It will create jobs not only in New York but across the country. It also provides clear direction for other regulatory agencies when facing similar issues addressing how to incent investment in industries supporting offshore wind or investments into other renewable projects.
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At the Oceantic Network, formerly known as the Business Network for Offshore Wind, our driving purpose is to inform, coordinate, and mobilize human ingenuity, enterprise, and labor to take advantage of the urgent need to tap the vast renewable energy resources that lie offshore in the world’s oceans. The collective, coordinated efforts of our members equip communities and nations to accelerate the transition to clean energy and create economic opportunities.
November 9, 2023
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