Three offshore-wind developers that are competing to build the first U.S. utility-scale offshore wind farm, south of Martha’s Vineyard, have targeted Massachusetts as a hub to build a critical domestic contractor supply chain. Not to be outdone, Maryland also is pushing itself as a base for the emerging energy sector, approving two projects last month and rehabbing a former steelmaking site to host offshore-wind manufacturing and staging.
“We need long-term, flexible and creative partners,” said Jeff Grybowski, CEO of Deepwater Wind, developer of the first U.S. offshore-wind project, a 30-MW facility that began full operation off Rhode Island on May 1. He and others spoke on May 31 at a Newton, Mass., supply-chain matchmaking event for power suppliers, engineers, steel fabricators and marine services providers. It occurred the same day that New England’s last major coal-fired power plant, sited in Somerset, Mass., prepared to shut down, foreshadowing the state’s long-term commitment to clean energy.