Good, informative NBC report on a key bottleneck to offshore wind in the US – the lack of US ships capable of doing the construction. A law called the Jones Act mandates that only US owned ships can transport cargo from one US port to another. A new specialized vessel is the first step in solving this problem.
Even in the face of threats by potential next President Donald Trump, the market forces driving the industry continue to be compelling, along with incentives from Biden Administration programs like the Inflation Reduction Act.
The U.S. offshore wind market ramped up construction activities and saw several new vessels launched in the second quarter of 2024. In total, the U.S. reached 310 MW of installed offshore wind capacity, up 28% from last quarter. These and other key industry findings are detailed in Oceantic Network’s U.S. Offshore Wind Quarterly Market Report, which highlights new vessel launches, regulatory advancements for several projects, and state-level developments that drove the U.S. market forward between April and June of 2024.
The Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Project, Revolution Wind, and Vineyard Wind 1 are undergoing installation activities on the East Coast, with South Fork Wind already complete and delivering power to the grid. Once installation on the three projects is complete, they will provide over 4 GW of energy to the grid, powering approximately 1.4 million homes. Additionally in Q2, Equinor broke ground on its South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, projected to create over 1,000 jobs in the construction of staging, pre-assembly, and operations & maintenance facilities for offshore wind. The New Jersey Wind Port, an offshore wind marshalling port, is also nearing completion.
“The U.S. offshore wind industry entered its second summer construction season, even bigger than last year, drawing on dozens of vessels across ports from Virginia to Massachusetts,” said Sam Salustro, vice president of strategic communications at Oceantic Network. “These projects will multiply installed capacity more than thirteen-fold. The next wave of supply chain and infrastructure development is well underway with new ports breaking ground and shipyards churning out vessels. Americans are at work out on the water, inside U.S. ports, and in factories and shipyards far from project areas.”
Further market strength was showcased in the second quarter with the launch of the first U.S.-built service operations vessel (SOV) for offshore wind, along with the launch of two new crew transfer vessels that mark the fifth and sixth to be delivered this year.
Not only are wind turbines unsightly, but my superyacht has to change course to get around them. They quite put me off my duck confit.