Deepwater Wind Could Create 6,000 Jobs in New England
Thursday, August 24, 2017
Deepwater Wind CEO Jeff Grybowski said on GoLocal LIVE on Wednesday that if the company is awarded Massachusetts' new clean energy contract, it could mean as many as 6,000 jobs in New England over the long-term.
"Depending on the size of the project, it could be as many as three times the amount of jobs [created in Block Island, Deepwater's first project and first offshore wind farm in the country], up to twenty times that," said Grybowski, noting that Block Island created 300 jobs.
Grybowski spoke to the company's recent feature in a Citi Bank commercial, as well as its plans for growth -- both in Massachusetts, and Long Island.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTAs GoLocal previously reported the competition for the contract off of Massachusetts is fierce.
“Revolution Wind will be the largest combined offshore wind and energy storage project in the world. People may be surprised by just how affordable and reliable this clean energy combo will be. Offshore wind is mainstream and it is coming to the U.S. in a big way,” said Grybowski.
Deepwater Wind also plans to submit an offshore wind proposal under Massachusetts’ separate 83C offshore wind RFP; those bids are due in December 2018.
Over the past few months, Deepwater has received tremendous positive attention for its construction and operation of America's first offshore wind farm near Block Island. Deepwater’s finance partner, Citi, recently broke a new television campaign highlighting its partnership and commitment to financing renewable programs.
Revolution Wind
Deepwater Wind is proposing the 144-megawatt Revolution Wind farm – paired with a 40 megawatt-hour battery storage system provided by Tesla – in response to Massachusetts’ request for proposals for new sources of clean energy in Section 83D of the Act to Promote Energy Diversity.
Deepwater Wind also provided alternative bids for a larger 288 MW version of Revolution Wind and a smaller 96 MW version.
Revolution Wind’s offshore wind-battery storage pairing will let Massachusetts meet two policy goals. First Revolution Wind will help to defer the need to construct costly new peaking generating facilities and controversial transmission lines.
Revolution Wind will also help advance offshore wind development in Massachusetts by providing an avenue to launch the new industry with an initial smaller-scale project, and phase in larger projects in close succession.
“Revolution Wind is flexible and scalable. That’s a serious advantage of offshore wind – we can build to the exact size utilities need. We can build a larger project if other New England states want to participate now or we can start smaller to fit into the region’s near-term energy gaps. And our pricing at any size will be very competitive with the alternatives,” said Grybowski.
Revolution Wind will be built in the company’s federal lease of Massachusetts. The site is located 30 miles from the mainland and about 12 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard.
The wind farm will be adjacent to Deepwater Winds’s South Fork Wind Farm.
If approved, local construction work on Revolution Wind would begin in 2022, with the project in operations in 2023. Survey work is already underway at Deepwater Wind’s lease area.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The 6,000 jobs is the total jobs that Deepwater could employ or create in the long-term.
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