Vineyard Wind created a partnership with the City of Salem, Massachusetts, on Sept. 30, stating it would turn an area of Salem Harbor into the state’s second offshore wind port, if the developer wins a new procurement bid from the state.
The agreement is part of Vineyard Wind’s 800-MW and 1,200-MW Commonwealth Wind proposals, submitted under Massachusetts’ 83C iii competitive solicitation that opened in May.
Florida-based Crowley Maritime, through its New Energy subsidiary Crowley Wind Services, would purchase a 42-acre area surrounding Salem Harbor and serve as the long-term port operator.
“We see a tremendous opportunity in this new industry being based out of Salem,” Mayor Kim Driscoll told NetZero Insider. The turbines will be installed off Martha’s Vineyard, but “the vast majority of the activity is on the site shoreside,” she said.
Vineyard Wind will use the port at Salem Harbor for turbine assembly and staging, as well as for the storage of blades, nacelles and tower sections before offshore installation.
Salem Harbor is also a popular recreation site, and Driscoll said the city will work to fit reactional activities with the new offshore wind port expansion.
“We still want it to bring people to Winter Island Park, another popular recreation site,” which sits on a plot of land that juts out into the harbor, she said.
Crowley Maritime will offer OSW workforce training on how to install turbines, rendered here, to environmental justice communities surrounding Salem. | Crowley MaritimeSalem Harbor is adjacent to historic districts and neighborhoods in the downtown area of the city, so it will be important to work with residents and businesses to limit the impact of the construction and operations at the new port, Driscoll said.
Historic Salem’s preservation committee will be involved in the public review process and is “willing to meet with any developer to ensure historic resources are part of the consideration,” said Emily Udy, preservation manager at Historic Salem.
“Addressing questions of how new uses [of the harbor] impact the existing character are an important part of our mission to ensure that the historic resources of Salem are preserved for future generations and that new development complements the historic character of the city,” Udy said.
Salem Harbor is not a new industrial site. The city recently replaced its coal-fired power plant with a gas-fired plant at the Salem Harbor Power Station, a project worth $1 billion in investment and construction that came online in 2018. The city government learned a lot from that project in terms of how to keep the community appraised of activities and involved in the process, Driscoll said.
“Constant communication is really necessary,” she said.
“There will be traffic from construction, but there won’t be coal ash on trucks traveling through the area,” Driscoll said. “A dozen years ago, the waterfront was so different.”
Vineyard Wind predicts the project will create about 400 full-time equivalent job years (FTE) during construction at the port and another 500 FTEs over the first five years of operation. Construction and staging the wind projects, along with day-to-day port operations, will create an additional 900 FTEs.
“As OSW continues to expand, new purpose-built ports will be key to the success of this industry,” Lars Pedersen, CEO of Vineyard Wind, said in a statement. “With a new OSW port in Salem, the commonwealth can ensure that it is ready to face the demands of a rapidly growing industry.”
The first OSW port in Massachusetts will be built in New Bedford.
Massachusetts expects to announce the winners of OSW bids on Dec. 17, with the execution of long-term contracts planned for March 2022.