Offshore Wind’s Second Quarter Sees New Construction, Vessels, and Supply Chain Investments

The U.S. offshore wind market ramped up construction activities and saw several new vessels launched in the second quarter of 2024. In total, the U.S. reached 310 MW of installed offshore wind capacity, up 28% from last quarter. These and other key industry findings are detailed in Oceantic Network’s U.S. Offshore Wind Quarterly Market Report, which highlights new vessel launches, regulatory advancements for several projects, and state-level developments that drove the U.S. market forward between April and June of 2024. 

The Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Project, Revolution Wind, and Vineyard Wind 1 are undergoing installation activities on the East Coast, with South Fork Wind already complete and delivering power to the grid. Once installation on the three projects is complete, they will provide over 4 GW of energy to the grid, powering approximately 1.4 million homes. Additionally in Q2, Equinor broke ground on its South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, projected to create over 1,000 jobs in the construction of staging, pre-assembly, and operations & maintenance facilities for offshore wind. The New Jersey Wind Port, an offshore wind marshalling port, is also nearing completion. 

“The U.S. offshore wind industry entered its second summer construction season, even bigger than last year, drawing on dozens of vessels across ports from Virginia to Massachusetts,” said Sam Salustro, vice president of strategic communications at Oceantic Network. “These projects will multiply installed capacity more than thirteen-fold. The next wave of supply chain and infrastructure development is well underway with new ports breaking ground and shipyards churning out vessels. Americans are at work out on the water, inside U.S. ports, and in factories and shipyards far from project areas.” 

Further market strength was showcased in the second quarter with the launch of the first U.S.-built service operations vessel (SOV) for offshore wind, along with the launch of two new crew transfer vessels that mark the fifth and sixth to be delivered this year. 

Added Salustro, “We’re heading for a summer filled with monumental achievement brought by new vessels purpose-built to serve our industry, exemplified by the launching of Edison Chouest Offshore’s ECO Edison.” 

The second quarter of 2024 signals a summer of progress for the offshore wind industry as the supply chain continues to grow and more projects than ever are under construction. The report identified several further advancements, including:

• The Department of Interior announced a 5-year plan for offshore wind leasing, which includes up to 12 potential lease area sales through 2028. 

• The domestic supply chain notched important advancements last quarter with $300 million in new investments in shipbuilding and manufacturing across Louisiana, Maryland, New York, Ohio, and Texas and more. 

• New York opened a $200 million supply chain procurement round and finalized new offtake contracts for Empire Wind 1 (810 MW) and Sunrise Wind (924 MW). 

• Over 4 GW of projects are now undergoing installation activities. 

• New federal approvals increased ready to install capacity to over 13 GW.

• On the West Coast, California’s ISO approved a $4.6 billion transmission infrastructure upgrade to support offshore wind development. 

Oceantic Network | https://oceantic.org/