Page 24: of Marine News Magazine (April 2021)

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Feature

Offshore Wind

A Favorable Fetch for

US Offshore Wind: © Fokke / Adobe Stock

Port Reinvention in the Air

By Barry Parker ffshore wind caught a favorable gust with the exponential.” He explained that the coming decade will 2020 election of Joe Biden, and the following give rise to a huge demand for vessel construction for in- breeze from the early 2021 recon? guration of stallation, service/maintenance, crew transport and guard

O the U.S. Senate toward Democrats. Though duties. Speaking about the possible future of installed ca- widely touted as a growth engine for maritime businesses pacity, he said “the U.S. is looking to surpass what Europe (as well as shoreside trades), the latter years of the Trump accomplished over 30 years in the next nine to 10 years.” administration seemed to see delay after delay. The business is complicated; individual states—many

The class society DNV has been involved in offshore with major decarbonization initiatives—deal with power wind since its outset in the early 1990s, and now has 2,000 purchases, but going forward the actual electricity will energy experts working in its efforts supporting this pow- be generated from lease sites in federal waters (more than er source. Its business development manager, Nick Pro- three miles offshore), and therefore subject to processes kopuk, described the North American situation as being commanded from Washington, D.C. On the shore, build- one of “revolution, not evolution” in a presentation at the ing new supply infrastructures requires planning; yet, his- recent Greek/Norwegian Chambers of Commerce virtual torically, inter-port coordination, if any, has varied state by

Shipping Conference, saying that “the growth forecast is state. Thus, new paradigms are emerging in the U.S. Capi- 24 | MN April 2021