On Tuesday, the Maine Community College System (MCCS), Maine Maritime Academy (MMA) and Diamond Offshore Wind (DOW) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) committing to a partnership that will map out workforce needs of the offshore wind industry in Maine and support the development of offshore wind technicians and other skilled workers. Leaders from the…

Northstar Marine Services, marine transportation and support services provider, acquired the 265-ft anchor-handling OSV, the Northstar Navigator, and the 208-foot purpose-built spill response vessel, the Northstar Responder. These vessels will be used to support upcoming offshore wind work and a wide variety of other marine projects in the northeast United States. With more than 12,000…

Siemens Energy was awarded its first offshore grid connection project in the United States. In a consortium with Aker Solutions, the company will supply the high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission system that will bring green energy from Sunrise Wind, New York’s first utility-scale offshore wind project, to the mainland. It’s the first offshore wind project…

As developers chase stronger flows, onshore wind hub heights are growing beyond the reach of conventional crawler cranes. Mammoet’s new WTA lifting system allows theoretically infinite hub heights and paves the way towards emissions-free turbine erection. The WTA assembles wind turbine generators by attaching directly to the tower itself, using a series of clamps to…

Sulzer Schmid and ENERTRAG Betrieb have teamed up to provide a new wind turbine blade inspection solution that integrates ENERTRAG Betrieb’s lightning protection systems (LPS) testing solution with Sulzer Schmid’s unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology and digital inspection platform. This collaboration will enable LPS testing to be carried out at the same time as rotor…

The first phase of construction is underway at EEW-AOS monopile manufacturing facility that will include a 110,100 sq-ft monopile welding plant, located at the Port of Paulsboro Marine Terminal in Gloucester County, New Jersey. This offshore wind manufacturing facility will be the largest in the U.S. and will be able to build 400-foot long, 2,500-ton…

Offshore planners and operators can now take advantage of a new tool that supports the safe and efficient execution of operations on offshore energy assets. DHI launched Metocean Risk Ops, a workability assessment application that offers access to weather window and downtime analyses to support the operation and maintenance of offshore wind farms, installations and…

By Wesley Witt, chair, and Kristy Abel, vice chair, GWO North America Committee The amount of standardized safety training continues to increase year-over-year across North America in the wind industry because companies gain productivity and a more flexible workforce, while workers are more easily hired and valuable to their employers. In 2020, the number of…

Pearce Renewables, a renewable energy engineering, operations and maintenance provider, acquired Mortenson’s O&M division, Mortenson Energy Services. Within the last year, Pearce Renewables has assembled O&M companies serving utility-scale solar, wind, electric vehicle (EV) charging and battery energy storage system infrastructure. “The combination with Mortenson Energy Services creates a full suite of services to meet…

Ardexa, a global IoT platform provider, has expanded its feature set with a highly secure and fast remote working toolkit for renewable energy operations. Traditional remote access tools can be complex to install and securely manage, particularly for large portfolios. Ardexa has a simplified toolkit to enable granular access management and full portfolio oversight, including…

DNV has launched a collaborative research project to develop an automated data processing procedure for verification of detected wind turbine blade defects, with the aim of building trust and generating broader acceptance of automated data processing techniques across the industry and to inform future regulation. “With many inspections still being carried out manually, visual inspection…

By Sam Heim, Media Specialist, Petzl The wind technician career is projected to have the highest job growth rate in the United States for the next eight years. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the projected percent change in employment from 2019 to 2029 for wind techs is 61%; the average job growth rate…

Curtiss-Wright partnered with dolphitech to provide predictive turbine maintenance and blade inspection services to the domestic and international wind market. This collaboration pairs Curtiss-Wright’s StressWave and PdP Pattern Recognition software platforms with dolphitech’s next generation dolphicam2 ultrasonic inspection technology to provide users with a comprehensive view of their wind turbine blade health. “This partnership provides…

U.S.-based Crowley and Danish shipping company ESVAGT announced plans to directly bolster purpose-built, Jones Act vessel availability in support of the emerging offshore wind energy market through a joint venture. The partnership will bring together two leading maritime solutions providers to serve the emerging industry. Consistent with the requirements of the U.S. Jones Act, Crowley…

Reygar, an offshore renewable energy sector monitoring systems provider, has been commissioned to develop an industry-first motion comfort monitoring tool within BareFLEET, Reygar’s remote monitoring and reporting platform. The new tool will track and analyze motion, fuel consumption and crew sickness in different cabin locations, with a specific focus on boosting safety and fitness to…

Massachusetts-based Bristol Community College’s National Offshore Wind Institute (NOWI) has entered a global partnership with one of the world’s largest and most trusted providers of offshore wind training, Maersk Training. “Bristol is proud to partner with globally recognized Maersk Training, whose expertise and experience will elevate the college’s leadership in training the workforce needed for the emerging offshore wind industry,” said Laura L. Douglas, President, Bristol…

Dropsafe, a drop prevention solutions manufacturer, has called for a more systematic approach to tackling drops throughout the offshore wind supply chain. This follows the publication of 2019 data by the G+ Global Offshore Wind Safety Organisation showing an overall rise in reported drop incidents in the sector. Dropsafe maintains that rather than focusing drops…

Duke Energy Renewables is offering a service option to wind energy producers around the United States. An alternative lifting service is now available through Duke Energy Renewable Services, an operator and maintenance provider for third-party wind and solar photovoltaic facilities in the U.S. Traditional wind turbine maintenance requires cranes, a construction zone and scheduling multiple…

By Mark Goalen, Offshore Engineering Director, Houlder Ltd The offshore wind market is maturing rapidly as the world transitions to cleaner energy. Indeed, the BP Energy Outlook 2019 anticipates significant growth of the sector, suggesting that the percentage of generated wind energy in the renewable market will be more than double by 2040. Meeting this…

Gov. Phil Murphy announced plans to develop the New Jersey Wind Port, a first-in-the-nation infrastructure investment that will provide a location for essential staging, assembly and manufacturing activities related to offshore wind projects on the East Coast. The Wind Port has the potential to create up to 1,500 manufacturing, assembly and operations jobs, as well…