Supply chain needs compete with political concerns for US offshore wind

An inadequate domestic supply chain poses greater challenges to developing the US offshore wind sector than politics, a panel of offshore wind and marine transport leaders told attendees at the 2024 Marine Money finance forum in New Orleans.

Although US President-elect Donald Trump has promised he would sign an executive order to stop offshore wind projects “on day one” of taking office, panelists said they were cautiously optimistic that momentum from existing projects and leases could help ease the incoming administration’s resistance to offshore wind development.

“What I’m interested in is how do we build a domestic supply chain — ports, vessels, people, equipment — capable of doing this? Because this is cutting edge-stuff. And the scale of it is wild,” said Joel Whitman, president of Massachusetts-based services provider Foss Offshore Wind.

President Joe Biden set an ambitious target for the US to deploy 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind energy by 2030 — a plan widely considered lofty under any administration. Offshore wind projects are an important cargo source for multipurpose vessels (MPVs) and breakbulk cargo ports.

“You’re never going to install at that magnitude,” Whitman said at the forum, held last week. “The number of turbines that have to go in the water can’t even come close to that.”

Whitman pointed to coastal New England, where Foss Offshore Wind has been transporting cargo for the 64-turbine Vineyard Wind project. “In Massachusetts, we have two, maybe three of these 30-acre ports that are able to do this,” he said.

Whitman said the sector needs a more robust supply chain and regional port facilities to support and move massive offshore wind turbines and equipment.

“That’s not a two-year aspiration or even a four-year aspiration,” he said. “That’s a decades-in-the-making aspiration.”

Business case for offshore wind

Jamie Lescinski, the US offshore wind business development director for Dutch marine engineering and project firm Boskalis, said she is “cautiously optimistic” about the offshore wind market given the current pipeline of projects that have been approved through 2028, along with leases that have been auctioned off and are awaiting federal approvals.

“Once you hit 2028, you then have more projects that need to be built simultaneously than the supply chain can handle,” she said.

When asked what happens if permitting comes to a halt over the next four years, Lescinski said activity levels could drop off at the start of the next decade, noting “2030 is kind of the precipice.”

Offshore wind developers stand to benefit from building a rapport with operators and other offshore energy stakeholders that have existing relationships with their state’s Congressional delegates, said Otto Candies III, chairman and CEO of Louisiana-based offshore vessel owner and operator Otto Candies.

“I’d love to see developers sit down with the stakeholders and allow us to leverage those relationships into something that can strengthen the industry,” he said.

Candies cited Louisiana vessel operators’ long-standing relationships with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise, both Republicans from Louisiana.

“Certainly, I know that traditional oil and gas operators want to see that industry flourish,” he said. “It’s another source of business for us, and another way for us to invest some money.”

The best-case scenario is a slowdown for the industry, whereas the worst-case scenario is that offshore wind development comes to a halt, said Michael Landry, director of New York-based Liberty Green Logistics. However, Landry said he is optimistic that there are enough projects under way to keep things moving.

“We need to look at this as an American industry and leverage our expertise,” he said.

The key, Whitman said, will be for the industry to focus on offshore wind as an avenue to US energy independence and job creation, rather than letting the sector’s development become an adversarial proposition for politicians.

“I really believe that we are a hard capitalist society,” he said. “There is a lot of money to be made in this industry. The market demand is there.”

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