Vineyard Wind, a joint venture between Avangrid Renewables, a subsidiary of AVANGRID, Inc. (NYSE: AGR), and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), announced that DEME Offshore US LLC will serve as its contractor (1) for the installation of offshore wind turbine foundations for the Vineyard Wind 1 project.
“We’re pleased to work with DEME on another facet of our Vineyard Wind 1 project because they understand the need to train the US workforce so that we can meet the demands of this growing industry,” said Vineyard Wind CEO, Lars T. Pedersen. “With this contractor in place, we can now build on the goals laid out in our Project Labor Agreement and lay the foundation for the good paying US jobs that will carry our industry forward.”
In addition to the installation of turbines, which was announced earlier this year, DEME will also now handle the transportation and installation of the monopile foundations, transition pieces, and scour protection for the wind turbine foundations, in addition to the offshore electrical substation foundation and platform.
“DEME Offshore US LLC is proud of this achievement, not only about the award of another significant scope of work for the project, but also about the agreement with the unions, said Jan Klaassen, Director DEME Offshore US LLC. “DEME Offshore US LLC has always promoted cooperation with local companies and local people, we believe in the success of bringing people from different backgrounds and expertise together in one team. We will deploy highly specialised vessels and crews with huge experience in offshore wind and in the same time providing opportunities for American labour force to become involved in this fascinating business; constructing sustainable offshore energy production for US future energy mix.”.
As a part of the recently signed Project Labor Agreement, Vineyard Wind 1 and DEME Offshore will closely work together with the local unions and trades to provide training in this new industry. The goal is to have U.S. workers play an increasing role on a variety of scopes of work during the construction of the project.
Sid Florey, president of DEME Offshore US LLC, “It has been a pleasure to work together with the local unions and trades. We are also engaging intensively now with local US companies who can act as our suppliers and vendors. We look forward cooperating with all the stakeholders in the realisation of this first large-scale offshore wind project in US waters. This project will form a cornerstone for the growth of offshore wind industry in the US, where DEME Offshore US will play a significant role together with its US partners”
Located 15 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, Vineyard Wind 1 is slated to become the first large-scale offshore wind farm in the United States. With a generating capacity of 800 megawatts (MW), the project will provide significant benefits to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by providing clean electricity to power more than 400,000 homes, creating thousands of good paying jobs, and reducing electricity rates by $1.4 billion over the first 20 years of operation. The project is also expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1.68 million metric tons annually, the equivalent of taking 325,000 cars off the road each year.
Vineyard Wind reached financial close in September 2021 and will begin delivering clean energy to Massachusetts in 2023.
(1) This represents a substantial contract. “Substantial” refers to a contract with a value of EUR 150-300 million.
