Rhode Island Shipyards to build five new offshore wind crew vessels
These ships will service Ørsted and Eversource’s Northeast Wind Farms
Joint venture partners Ørsted and Eversource will charter five new offshore wind CTVs from New York-based, WindServe Marine and Massachusetts-based, American Offshore Services (AOS). WindServe Marine’s affiliate shipyard, Senesco Marine, at Quonset Point in North Kingstown, R.I., will build three of the vessels and AOS is partnering with Blount Boats & Shipyard, of Warren, to build another two vessels.
Ørsted and Eversource’s chartering of the vessels will create about 80 local construction jobs at Senesco and Blount Boats, plus another approximately 48 jobs for captains and crew who will work aboard the vessels, primarily during the wind farms’ construction. A number of regional suppliers will provide vessel components, such as electronics, engines, cranes, aluminum, and safety equipment.
U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a longtime champion for Rhode Island’s marine trades industry, said:
“The first state to get steel in the water, Rhode Island is becoming a hub for the growing offshore wind industry. Strategic federal investments at Quonset and in our local maritime trades helped attract these jobs to the Ocean State and will continue to pay dividends as offshore wind ramps up.”
U.S. Representative David N. Cicilline, said:
“With Rhode Island’s blue economy continuing to grow, and as we shift our reliance from gas and oil to clean energy and wind, we will continue to see more of these investments and jobs. With the infusion of infrastructure investments from the bipartisan infrastructure bill, we can continue to develop our ports and pave the way for Rhode Island’s future.”
These purpose-built vessels are designed to handle the unique offshore conditions at the wind farms, which will be located 15 miles off the Southern New England coast, and to transport technicians and materials safely to and from the wind farms and local ports.
Construction work is expected to start early this year at Senesco on the 88-foot long WindServe vessels and at Blount Boats on the 101-foot long AOS vessels. All five vessels will be built over the next two years, ready to provide crew transfer support during the construction phases of the Ørsted and Eversource joint venture’s three Northeast projects. The first vessel will be completed by early 2023.
David Kristensson, owner of Northern Offshore Services, a co-owner of AOS, said:
"The AOS newbuild program for Ørsted and Eversource will bring over 40 skilled shipyard jobs to Rhode Island. In addition, this partnership will give dozens of U.S. merchant mariners the opportunity to embark on a new and exciting career path, throughout the Northeast."
In December 2016, Ørsted and Eversource teamed up to launch a new clean energy industry in the Northeast. This partnership has now grown to include three offshore wind farms including the 704-megawatt Revolution Wind project serving Rhode Island and Connecticut; the 130-megawatt South Fork Wind serving Long Island, and the 924-megawatt Sunrise Wind project serving New York. All together, these projects will generate 1,760 megawatts of clean, renewable energy – enough for more than 1 million homes. The JV has the potential to more than double its existing portfolio within its current jointly-owned uncontracted offshore wind energy lease areas.
The two shipyards are leaders in building offshore wind crew transfer vessels: Blount Boats built the country’s first-ever offshore wind crew transfer vessel, the Atlantic Pioneer, which has served Ørsted’s Block Island Wind Farm since the American-first offshore wind farm began operations in 2016. Senesco built the WINDSERVE JOURNEY crew transfer vessel, which began operations in 2020 at the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project; Ørsted supported the engineering, procurement and construction of that offshore wind farm.
Among the largest offshore wind partnerships in the United States, the Ørsted and Eversource joint venture is playing a unique role in the development of a domestic offshore wind supply chain.
In December 2016, Ørsted and Eversource teamed up to launch a new clean energy industry in the Northeast. This partnership has now grown to include three offshore wind farms including the 704-megawatt Revolution Wind project serving Rhode Island and Connecticut; the 130-megawatt South Fork Wind serving Long Island, and the 924-megawatt Sunrise Wind project serving New York. All together, these projects will generate 1,760 megawatts of clean, renewable energy – enough for more than 1 million homes. The JV has the potential to more than double its existing portfolio within its current jointly-owned uncontracted offshore wind energy lease areas.
