b'6American Journal of Transportation ajot.comMultiple US port communities vying for pieceOffshore wind energy: of the offshore wind energy supply chain the global pictureIts a phenomenon thats sweeping the nation, from coast to coast Significant progress has been made, but not enough By Peter Buxbaum, AJOT capacity is planned to achieve climate goals: reportInAugust,thePortofrsteds 2019 expansion. localindustrieslikefishing,By Peter Buxbaum, AJOT Virginiareachedanagree- The offshore wind industrysaid Matthew Spencer, director menttolease72acresofis creating high-value jobs andof Green Alliance.Lastyearwasrecord- itywereawardedduring the287-acrePortsmouthhelping to offset the long-term(VYINGcontinued onbreakingforwindpowerinthesecondquarterof2021, MarineTerminaltoDomin- decline of employment in otherpage 7) theUnitedStates,withtheaccording to the Global Wind ionEnergyforthestaginginstallation of 17 gigawatts ofEnergyCouncil(GWEC), and pre-assembly of compo- new capacity, an 85% yearlysix times larger than last year nents for the 2,600-megawattincreaseover2020.Sinceand over 80% higher than the CoastalVirginiaOffshore2010, wind power in the U.S.first quarter of 2021. Auction-Windfarm.Virginiahasahasquadrupleditsshareining and tendering of capacity legislativetargettogener- the countrys electricity mix. during the first half of 2020, it ate5,200megawattsofoff- Countries around the globeshould be noted, were stymied shore wind energy by 2034,havemadesignificantprog- by COVID-19 lockdowns. to be supplied in part by theress in awarding and install- Still, the global offshore DominionEnergyproject,ingnewcapacity,butnotwindindustryinstalled6.1 located 27 miles off the coastenough to meet internationalgigawatts of capacity in 2020, of Virginia Beach. climate goals, according to adown only slightly from the The Port of Virginia, notednew report. record of 6.24 gigawatts seen Dominion Energy CEO RobertGlobally, 8.5 gigawatts ofin2019.GWECexpectsa Blue, has deep water access,Virginia has a legislative target to generate 5,200 megawatts of offshoreoffshore and 12.78 gigawatts(PICTUREcontinued on nooverheadrestrictionsandwind energy by 2034, to be supplied in part by the Dominion Energy project. oftotalwindpowercapac- page 13)isperfectlysituatedtoserve theVirginiaoffshorewind project and grow the domestic supplychainneededtocom-plete other offshore wind proj-ects in the United States.Theconnectionbetween offshore wind energy and local port development has been evi-dent for some time. The United States lags behind Europe in the developmentofwindenergy and its infrastructures, but thatHOUSTONS YOURhasprovidedpolicymakers on this side of the Atlantic an example from afar on how the offshore industry can stimulate economicdevelopmentand create jobs in their comunities.BEST SOLUTIONb eneFiTs oFW inD : g riMbsy , e nglAnDThetownofGrimsby, England,isonecaseofa community that has benefit-tedfromthedevelopment ofaportfacilitytosupport offshore wind. Grimsby wasPORT HOUSTONprovides a higher degree of service and stability for once a struggling fishing vil-lage, but that changed whenimporters and exporters. Port Houston works with BCOs to overcome an offshore wind port broughtlogistics and service issues and our Port Houston team can be contacted asupplychainofmanufac-turers, suppliers, support ves- directly by BCOs for an immediate response.sels, and services to the town. Within a few years, Grimsby sawsignificanteconomic More Reliable All Water Servicegrowth thanks to the offshore Less Congestion More Accessiblewind industry. In 2019, the Danish off-More Stable Less Complicatedshore wind developer rsted, akeyplayerintheNew Jerseywindstory,openedCall or visit us online to learn more about Port Houston,anexpandedoperationsand maintenance(O&M)hubinThe International Port of Texas.theportofGrimsby,where offshore-related activities had beenongoingsince2010, after investing $12.3 million attheGrimsbyRoyalDock andsurroundingareas.The hub, which employs over 350 workers, serves as an O&M base for five of rsteds oper-ational wind parks in British waters, and a sixth to become operational in 2022. A report fromthethinktankGreen Alliance found that hundredsPortHouston.com713-670-2400of jobs and tens of millions of dollars in investments flowed intoGrimsbyevenbefore'