New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently announced in his 2021 State of the State a historic offshore wind investment that included the selection of the Port of Albany as the first offshore wind tower manufacturing site in the nation. This major renewable energy and economic development project will further the governor’s green energy agenda, create hundreds of jobs, and become a key part of the governor’s $644 million statewide public and private port investments.
This project will transform the Port’s 80-acre expansion site in the Town of Bethlehem into a world-class manufacturing facility and maritime operation. The project will also develop land in the Port’s existing district and use recently improved maritime enhancements to support this endeavor.
Components of the project will include a new state-of-the-art wharf, a new bridge, new and improved internal roadways, and more than 600,000 square feet of manufacturing space in four buildings. A joint venture between Marmen Inc. and Welcon A/S with partner Equinor Wind US LLC will lease the entirety of the project site where they will fabricate offshore wind towers.
The manufacturing operation will make use of the wharf and quayside facilities for load out of their products onto transport and installation vessels. The products will be shipped via the Hudson River maritime transportation network to offshore wind development sites in the ocean. This project will have capacity to supply New York State projects and other offshore wind projects along the Eastern Seaboard.
Construction is expected to begin in 2022. The construction of the facilities and development of the site is expected to create 500 jobs. Once complete, the project will create 300 full-time employees in well-paying manufacturing jobs.
The project partnership is committed to supporting local workforce development, training, and recruitment programs directly accessible to the nearby environmental justice community in the City of Albany’s South End. The development of this site will serve as a positive economic anchor to the future of the historically underserved South End.
Marmen Inc, Welcon A/S, Equinor, and the Port of Albany bring together nearly a century of safe, reliable, and experienced maritime administration capabilities together with a world leader in offshore wind development and a proven wind-tower manufacturing team that has global experience. This partnership will make substantial investment to develop this offshore wind-manufacturing hub in the heart of New York State along the Hudson River that is within a day’s shipping to the wind-energy area development site in the Atlantic Ocean.
The total project investment is expected to be more than $350 million.
More info www.portofalbany.us
