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US Wind is Bringing Clean Energy to Delmarva
Great manufacturing opportunities for the region
BY MIKE DUNMYER
WITH 33 PROJECTS in development along the U.S. East Coast, the offshore wind industry is poised to become a major source of clean energy. These projects have the collective capacity to power almost 14 million U.S. homes with clean, renewable energy and ignite sustainable job creation and economic development for decades to come. US Wind is developing two of those projects, with the capacity for a third—all of which could deliver enough clean energy to power more than 500,000 Delmarva homes.
Today, the supply chain for offshore wind component parts is in Europe and Asia, where the industry has been growing with gusto for the past 30 years. However, most of that capacity will be dedicated to fulfilling foreign offshore wind expansion plans. Thus, to be successful here in the United States and to put more Americans to work in this emerging industry, a domestic supply chain is needed.
To help make this happen, US Wind plans to build an offshore wind factory, Sparrows Point Steel, at the former site of Bethlehem Steel in Baltimore County, Maryland. This facility—the first of its kind for Delmarva—will produce foundations and towers for offshore wind farms along the Eastern Seaboard and provide ample land to stage offshore wind parts. At full capacity, Sparrows Point Steel will employ more than 500 area workers, many of whom will be union laborers and employees of minority-owned businesses.
US Wind expects to make landfall and connect to the grid in Sussex County, so there will be significant sourcing from Delaware companies. This includes secondary steel, precast concrete, civil engineering, earthworks, and electrical work. US Wind will invest more than $100 million to strengthen the Sussex County grid, creating opportunities for local members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The projects are also having ripple effects: Delaware Technical Community College and the University of Delaware (UD) are launching an offshore wind training academy, and UD and Delaware State University are expanding their underwater robotics capabilities, with a focus on applications for offshore wind development. US Wind is engaged in both ventures and anticipates working with these schools for years to come.
Longer term, there will be more opportunities for Delaware to participate in the offshore wind industry. More marshalling ports are needed to meet the huge demand from projects between North Carolina and New York, and some locations along the Delaware Bay could be ideal. Further, Delaware has begun to evaluate whether to launch its own offshore wind procurement program, which could allow the state to facilitate major supply chain investment within its borders.
Offshore wind is the clean energy resource that can be delivered at utility scale along the East Coast and is vital to transitioning away from carbon-intensive fossil fuels. Constructing, operating, and maintaining these wind farms will require thousands of skilled workers, but establishing a domestic manufacturing supply chain will have an even bigger impact on job growth.
Mike Dunmyer is Delaware development manager at US Wind.
