As America explores clean energy options to secure the country’s climate future, offshore wind farms are a key part of the conversation all along the East Coast. These offshore energy projects— and their onshore assembly and maintenance facilities — will require a stream of skilled workers, and a new initiative is underway here in Delaware to ensure the First State is at the fore-front of supplying that workforce.
Cristina Archer and her team at the University of Delaware (UD) and at Delaware Technical Community College have already started a training program geared to providing workers with basic safety and operational skills. The one-week program, known as the Global Wind Organization Basic Safety Training, allows participants to earn a certification after attending modules on topics such as first aid and sea survival.
“The first of these classes was held over five days in January at Delaware Tech’s Owen Campus in Georgetown,” says Archer, professor and Unidel Howard Cosgrove Career Development Chair in Environment at UD. A second cohort completed the training at the end of March, and Archer says plans for additional sessions would depend on demand. “About 40% of it was in the classroom, and 60% hands-on. They trained on tall structures outfitted with hooks and ladders, and they learned platform safety, how to rescue coworkers and how to fight a fire.”
The certification is the first step for personnel, including wind technicians, who will install and later maintain the fleet of offshore wind turbines, as well as port workers and sea survival and rescue personnel.
“But first, we had to train the trainers,” which involved a nine-week training program in cooperation with Maersk, the Danish shipping and logistics company, Archer says. “We now have four certified trainers in Delaware to help ready a workforce for the growing offshore wind initiatives.”
“I am so glad to have been a part of the first cohort and to be a recipient of the University of Delaware grant for wind farm safety,” reports Tracey Gross, one of six students to complete the inaugural program, which was funded by a $1.06 million federal grant awarded through the U.S. Department of Energy. Grant funds can cover tuition for up to six of the maximum 12 participants in each training session. “I learned a ton, and I was happy to push myself out of my comfort zone. There was a lot of attention on our safety and learning what to do in times of emergency in order to help others.”
Offshore Wind BusinessIs Ramping Up
At present, there are two East Coast wind farms that are operational — the Block Island project off the coast of Rhode Island and the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind pilot project operated by the Virginia Department of Energy. The latter is expected to grow from the existing two turbines to 176.
Already, five other offshore projects are ramping up, the largest being Ocean Wind I, located about 15 miles east of Atlantic City and the first of three projects off New Jersey, which will have 98 turbines capable of supply power to a half-million homes. The other three are Vineyard Wind off Martha’s Vineyard (62 turbines, 400,000 homes supplied), Revolution Wind off Rhode Island (62 turbines, 250 homes) and South Fork Wind off Montauk Point (12 turbines, half a million homes). The newest project —Empire Wind off the New York/New Jersey coast — was approved in February and is expected to grow to 176 turbines.
Additionally, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management plans to review at least 16 offshore wind projects by 2025, including one off Maryland’s Eastern Shore adjacent to Delaware.
So far, there are no approved wind farm projects off the Delaware shore. The one planned by Ørsted, a Danish power company that is already operating the Block Island installation and will be operating theNew Jersey wind farms, has been put on hold.
“The US Wind project located on the Delaware offshore border with Maryland plans to be in operation by 2027,” Archer says, “so they will need workers when that takes place in 2025 or 2026. Additionally, there is the existing Virginia wind farm and the ones being planned off New Jersey —both nearby locations.”
Archer does note there is one wind turbine in Lewes that is jointly operated by the university and Gamesa Technology Corporation. It is a utility-scale two-megawatt wind turbine at UD’s Hugh R. Sharp Campus. The joint venture, First State Marine Wind, is a partnership between UD-owned Blue Hen Wind and Gamesa.
And, where Delaware’s role in the emerging offshore-wind industry is concerned, it’s just the beginning.
