R.I. shipyards chosen to build vessels for regional offshore wind projects

BLOUNT BOATS in Warren and Senesco Marine in North Kingstown have been chosen to build five new crew transfer vessels to serve Orsted A/S and Eversource Energy's area offshore wind projects. Pictured is the Atlantic Pioneer, the first-ever crew transfer vessel built by Blount Boats to serve the Block Island Wind Farm. /COURTESY BLOUNT BOATS

PROVIDENCE – Two Rhode Island shipyards have been selected to build the boats that will transport workers out to sea during construction and maintenance of several major offshore wind arrays.

Orsted A/S and Eversource Energy on Thursday announced their partnership with two regional marine companies whose respective shipyards, Senesco Marine in North Kingstown and Blount Boats & Shipyard in Warren, will build five crew transfer vessels used to serve the companies’ Northeast offshore wind farms.

Construction of these vessels will create about 80 jobs between the two shipyards along with another 48 positions for the captain and crew that commandeer the vessels during upcoming wind farm construction, according to a press release.

State officials touted the partnership as evidence of the state’s continued prominence in the burgeoning offshore wind industry.

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“We are proud that these companies chose our shipyards for this major partnership that will bring jobs to the Ocean State,” Gov. Daniel J. McKee said in a statement. “With our blue economy ecosystem, which positions us to support the entire offshore wind supply chain, and substantial proposed investments to expand capacity for offshore wind developers, we are on a path to solidify Rhode Island as the East Coast hub of offshore wind development.”

Construction will begin this year and continue over the next two years, with plans to have the 88-to-101-foot-long specialty vessels ready to take turbine technicians and materials back and forth to nearby wind projects as early as 2023, the release stated.

Both shipyards have experience in building these specialty boats. Blount Boats built the first-ever crew transfer vessel for the Block Island Wind Farm, while Senesco built a vessel to serve an offshore wind project in Virginia, the release stated.

“Blount Boats has emerged as a leader in the CTV space having built two of the three U.S. flagged CTVs currently in operation,” Marcia Blount, president of Blount Boats Inc., said in a statement. “Blount looks forward to substantially increasing its highly skilled workforce while maintaining its reputation for quality construction during the build of these hybrid ready CTVs, the first vessels in the AOS fleet.”

Orsted and Eversource have together planned three offshore wind farms in the Northeast that once finished will generate 1,7360 megawatts of power for New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

The first is South Fork Wind, which is slated to begin onshore construction in February and will eventually provide power to Long Island. Another project slated for nearby federal waters off the coast of Block Island, Revolution Wind, will bring power to Connecticut and Rhode Island, with a construction timeline starting in 2023, pending federal and state approvals. Also awaiting federal approval is Sunrise Wind, which will serve New York.

Nancy Lavin is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Lavin@PBN.com.

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