On Tuesday, listed utility provider Dominion Energy, which provides electricity and natural gas service to more than 7 million customers in 16 U.S. states, announced that it has reached a landmark agreement with listed New England utility Eversource and the North American subsidiary of Danish wind turbine maker Ørsted to build the offshore wind turbine installation vessel qualified under the Jones Act (which regulates maritime transportation) in the U.S.
The vessel, called Charybdis, is expected to be sea-ready by late 2023. Ultimately homeported in Hampton Roads, Virginia, Charybdis will first deploye to New London harbor in Connecticut, where it will be used to install two of the country’s first large-scale offshore wind farms, Ørsted-Eversource’s Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind projects. Once completed, those projects will generate more than 1.6 GW of wind energy for nearly 1 million homes in Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York.
The 472-foot vessel is currently under construction in Brownsville, Texas, at global marine shipbuilder firm Keppel AmFELS’s shipyard, using more than 14,000 tons of domestically-sourced steel for the hull and infrastructure, nearly 10,000 tons of which have been sourced from suppliers in Alabama, West Virginia and North Carolina. At peak construction, 1,000 U.S. workers will be employed on this project. Once complete, the vessel will be homeported in Hampton Roads, Va., one of the nation’s premier offshore wind installation harbors, using an American crew.
Offshore wind = Reshore jobs
In a statement announcing the deal on Tuesday, Dominion Energy said the $500 million Charybdis vessel will support thousands of U.S. jobs, assist in the development of a new domestic supply chain for the emerging North American offshore wind industry, and help support the installation of offshore wind generation off the East Coast.
“Offshore wind is critical to America’s clean-energy future and the Charybdis plays a vital role in reaching the Biden Administration‘s ambitious goal of 30 gigawatts of offshore wind production by 2030,” said Dominion CEO, Chairman and President Bob Blue, in a statement on the Charybdis on Tuesday. “We look forward to working with Ørsted and Eversource on the construction of Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind to continue to grow the offshore wind industry in the U.S.”
“This new, state-of-the-art American-made wind turbine installation vessel is a major milestone for the offshore wind industry at both the local and national level,” Eversource Energy President and CEO Joe Nolan said. “As offshore wind continues to grow in Connecticut and throughout the U.S., we are seeing the birth of a new, domestic supply chain that will create thousands of jobs across the country for decades to come.
“We are proud to partner with Dominion Energy as the first-ever users of this new world-class vessel and bring it to New London to support our work at State Pier and deliver local jobs and economic investment.”
Calling the Jones Act-qualified status of the Charybdis “a game-changer for the development of the U.S. offshore wind industry,” Ørsted Offshore North America CEO David Hardy said, “This investment will enable us to unlock the economic benefits of offshore wind, not just for the Northeast, but for the Southern states as well. We’re proud to partner with Dominion Energy and Eversource on this historic milestone.”
The CEOs’ enthusiasm was roundly echoed by state elected officials.
“New York leads the nation with five active offshore wind developments, including the Sunrise Wind project, and the chartering of this historic vessel will play a critical role in not only achieving New York’s ambitious offshore wind energy goals, but our larger efforts to fully combat climate change and drive a robust, clean energy economy that benefits all,” said New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo.
“As our state and region continues to work towards a carbon-free future, Connecticut is proud to play a central role in the growth of the offshore wind industry and the fight against climate change,” said Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont. “We are excited about the transformation of State Pier into a state-of-the-art facility and the arrival of Dominion Energy’s historic vessel in Connecticut to support Ørsted and Eversource’s offshore wind project work, which includes bringing the state its first offshore wind farm in Revolution Wind. All of this activity assists in advancing our state’s clean energy economy and helps position New London as a hub for the industry, delivering jobs and economic development to the city and Connecticut overall.”
Port infrastructure
Ørsted and Eversource have separately committed nearly $100 million to a public-private partnership with the State of Connecticut and Connecticut Port Authority to revitalize the currently underutilized port facility at the State Pier in New London. Some 460 construction jobs will be created for the redevelopment of State Pier along with another 100 permanent positions. An $8.2 million federal TIGER Grant to the Connecticut Department of Transportation enabled Connecticut to link the modern national freight network to the port.
The redevelopment project at State Pier is estimated to add millions of dollars in value to the New London economy. In addition, the City of New London and Ørsted-Eversource executed a 10-year host community agreement that brings a guaranteed $5.25 million in new revenue to the city.
