Ocean Wind, a joint venture between Ørsted and PSEG and the developers of New Jersey’s first offshore wind project, and steel pipe manufacturer EEW are one step closer to opening New Jersey’s first offshore wind manufacturing facility. In December 2020, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced a $250 million investment into a new monopile manufacturing facility located at the Paulsboro Marine Terminal. This week, Ocean Wind and EEW broke ground at the EEW monopile manufacturing facility at the Port of Paulsboro Marine Terminal in Gloucester County. The start of construction marks a significant milestone in delivering the largest industrial offshore wind manufacturing facility in the United States to date.
Construction of the facility will be completed under a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) with the South Jersey Building Trades Council, ensuring that jobs created during the construction phase will be filled by local New Jersey union tradesmen and women who will use the highest level of industry standards. Construction activities include clearing and grading of the 70-acre site, reinforcement to increase quayside bearing capacity to accommodate the 2,500-ton monopiles, and the construction of two large buildings that will support circumferential welding, sandblasting, and painting. In effort to deliver the most economic benefits to the state, EEW has contracted with more than 30 New Jersey companies in support of design, permitting, site work and concrete.
Once complete, the facility will manufacture monopiles to supply the 1,100-MW Ocean Wind farm off the coast of southern New Jersey. EEW’s facility will create as many as 260 jobs during the first phase of construction and manufacturing. The facility is a key asset for the state, and in addition to supplying Ocean Wind, will serve the rapidly progressing U.S. offshore wind industry for years to come.
“Positioning New Jersey as a national leader in the offshore wind industry and developing our offshore wind capabilities have been key priorities of my Administration since day one,” said Governor Phil Murphy. “As the largest industrial offshore wind investment in the United States to date, the Paulsboro Marine Terminal will be a significant driving force for the state’s economy and create hundreds of good-paying, union jobs to South Jersey. Offshore wind is a once-in-a-generation opportunity, and today’s groundbreaking signals a monumental step forward in propelling New Jersey’s clean energy economy for generations to come.”
“Ensuring that EEW’s monopile facility will be completed by union labor means that the job will not only be done correctly, but it will be done safely. Our members have advocated tirelessly for several years to advance the offshore wind industry and their hard work and dedication has been recognized today. Our members are looking forward to getting to work on this project, and future opportunities,” said Bill Sproule, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters.
News item from Ocean Wind
Filed Under: News
There should be some interesting features on the new barges that will install the monpiles. These might include the ability to quickly adjust the ballast on the barge, such as a 500 cubic foot tank made of steel, that can be quickly lifted out of the water to lower the ballast on that end of the barge, or drop it underwater quickly by 30 feet, and quickly add 32,000 pounds of weight capacity in a few seconds! They can move a elevator that quickly, so they can move this tank that quickly as they need to lift a very heavy object, and sometimes transfer thousands of pounds off the crane onto a monopile. By quickly moving the ballast tank out of the water, they can avoid causing the barge to list. Yes they might need 10 of these 500 cubic feet tanks on separate elevator lift systems.
They need to develop a crane system with twin jibs, that can be adjusted from 8 feet to 40 feet apart, with a lift cable on each jib, so that the load can be much more stable in heavy winds, or could distribute the weight of a wind turbine wing by lifting it in two locations, and could adjust it so one side is higher or lower than the other. Also by being attached in two locations, 40 feet apart, it is much less likely to start swinging in 10 MPH winds.