More than 120 Louisiana businesses can tap into the growing offshore wind industry or are already doing so at wind farms taking shape on the East Coast, according to a new report.
Many of the companies have long serviced the Gulf of Mexico’s offshore oil and gas industry but can apply the same skills, tools and infrastructure toward the construction and maintenance of offshore wind farms, said Michael Hecht, CEO of Greater New Orleans, Inc., a regional economic development group that produced the report with RWE, a German offshore wind company with strong interest in developing wind farms in the Gulf.
The report’s database can “play an important role in growing the Gulf of Mexico’s offshore wind sector by connecting local suppliers with international developers, showcasing the great potential for Louisiana companies to support the national offshore wind industry,” Hecht said.
RWE recently won the right to develop a wind project in federal waters near Lake Charles. In August, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management awarded 102,000 acres about 40 miles south of Lake Charles to RWE after it offered a high bid of $5.6 million for the area.
Of the 123 businesses in the database, 95 percent are small businesses as defined by the Small Business Administration and 42 percent are already involved with the offshore wind industry either in past or future projects.
Louisiana companies already helping to build East Coast wind farms include shipbuilder Edison Chouest of Cut Off, Keystone Engineering of Mandeville and supply boat operator Aries Marine of Lafayette.
“They understand that offshore wind developers are looking for experienced, established companies to help build up this nascent industry,” said Rep. Joe Orgeron, a Larose Republican who helped lead the construction of the country’s first offshore wind farm in Rhode Island waters seven years ago.
State Rep. Joseph Orgeron in front of the lift boats that were used to install the wind turbines in Rhode Island. The boats are based in Houma.
GNO Inc hopes the publicly-available database will help bolster a domestic supply chain and connect wind energy developers to local services and experts, eventually fostering the growth of wind farms in the Gulf.
In 2020, a National Renewable Energy Laboratory study estimated a hypothetical wind project near Lake Charles would create about 4,470 construction jobs and generate $445 million in goods and services. Once constructed, the wind farm would support 150 jobs and an annual infusion of $14 million into the economy from operations, maintenance and materials.
RWE’s Gulf lease area has the potential to support about 2 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity. The company signed an agreement with Entergy to potentially supply energy to power customers in Louisiana and Texas. RWE is also developing 3.2-gigawatt wind energy projects off the coasts of New York and New Jersey, and a 1.6-gigawatt floating wind farm near California.
Louisiana’s near-shore waters are also drawing interest from wind energy developers. Last week, two companies signed agreements to develop wind farms within state waters, which extend three miles from the coast.
Tomas Muchenik works next to a model of a wind turbine at LM Wind Power at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans East in 2021.
Danish firm Vestas was granted 60,000 acres off Cameron Parish, and Diamond Offshore Wind, a Mitsubishi subsidiary, was approved for 6,162 acres near Port Fourchon.
Under Gov. John Bel Edwards, Louisiana set a goal of generating 5 gigawatts of power from offshore wind by 2035. The goal was part of Edwards’ larger push to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
RWE and other wind energy companies cited these goals as key reasons why they see Louisiana as a viable market for offshore wind development.
