NEW BEDFORD – Plans to turn a decommissioned power station into a staging and storage area for offshore wind turbines are taking shape under a deal announced by project partners on Wednesday.
Seattle-based Foss Maritime has teamed up with Cannon Street Holdings, the investor group that acquired the Cannon Street Power Station, to redevelop the 30-acre site to support offshore wind projects. The New Bedford Foss Marine Terminal will open in 2023 with storage and laydown areas for materials and equipment and berths for the boats that service the turbines. There will also be a new office space and maritime coordination center for the groups involved in offshore wind projects to collaborate.
The development marks the latest expansion of the Port of New Bedford, which has been the target of a host of redevelopment projects and funding to serve the growing offshore wind industry.
The announcement about the new terminal did not specify which wind projects the terminal will serve. However, its development partner, Foss Maritime, is already contracted to provide the boats for construction in the Vineyard Wind 1 project. The 600-megawatt project slated for the coast off Martha’s Vineyard is on track to be the first utility-scale offshore wind array in the country, with offshore construction in 2022 and power delivery the following year, according to developers Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.
“Foss’s investment in New Bedford is a great example of how the emerging offshore wind industry, led by the Vineyard Wind 1 project, can have a meaningful impact on the community,” Vineyard Wind CEO Klaus Moeller said in a statement. “The agreement will not only expand Foss’s operations in Massachusetts, but also create opportunities for local residents.”
Plans to redevelop the decommissioned power station to use for wind energy work were announced in 2021 under a $13.6 million deal between a group of investors known as Cannon Street Holdings LLC and the site’s former owners, Sprague and Eversource Energy, according to reports from The New Bedford Light.
Andrew Saunders, an attorney with Cannon Street Holdings will serve as president of the New Bedford Foss Marine Terminal.
Nancy Lavin is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Lavin@PBN.com.
