U.S. offshore industry takes root

Vineyard Wind, a joint venture between Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, will use a space in downtown Bridgeport as its future headquarters for the Park City Wind Offshore project in Connecticut. In addition, the developer announced that a lease has been signed for Barnum Landing to use the property as a construction and staging site for the 804-megawatt (MW) project.

“We are excited to announce the signing of leases for both our Connecticut headquarters and the construction and staging site for our Park City Wind project,” said Vineyard Wind Deputy CEO Sy Oytan. “The offshore wind industry can help transform Bridgeport’s waterfront into a hub for a new and growing industry.  By taking important steps like this today, we can lay a larger foundation for the jobs of tomorrow.” 

“Park City Wind is a tremendous opportunity to revitalize Bridgeport by creating thousands of good paying jobs with good benefits in both the wind industry and throughout the local supply chain,” said State Representative Chris Rosario.

When completed, the Park City Wind offshore wind farm will supply 804 MW of clean energy and provide about 14% of the state's electricity.

Meanwhile, something has also happened at Ørsted: the Danish offshore project developer will open its North American Digital Operations Headquarters in Newark, New Jersey.

Ørsted chose Newark because of its proximity to IT talent pools in the region. The Digital Operations Headquarters will require highly skilled, technical staff to support Ørsted's operations across North America for both onshore and offshore facilities.

“Our investments into New Jersey are expanding beyond our offshore wind projects,” said David Hardy, C.E.O. of Offshore North America, Ørsted. “While most of our employees will be based in southern New Jersey when our projects are operational, this headquarters ensures that the economic benefits of offshore wind will be spread across the entire state. Newark is a fast becoming a tech hub and we’re proud to play a part in its resurgence.”