Smulders to support offshore wind transition pieces production in New York

Marmen Welcon LLC has agreed a strategic alliance with European steel construction company Smulders for the production of offshore wind transition pieces for the US market at the Port of Albany, New York, the former said on Tuesday.

Marmen Welcon is a joint venture between Marmen Inc, an onshore wind tower manufacturer with facilities in Canada and the US, and Danish offshore wind tower maker Welcon A/S. Together with Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) and the Port of Albany, and with support from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), it is behind a USD-350-million (EUR 298m) project to make the port home to the first US offshore wind tower manufacturing facility.

"The strategic partnership [with Smulders] will allow for knowledge transfer and enhance our manufacturing capabilities for transition piece production in our future Port of Albany facility," said Marmen president Patrick Pellerin.

The joint venture noted that the pact will support the growth of the US offshore wind supply chain.

Port of Albany development is due to start later in 2021, with offshore wind towers expected to begin production at the end of 2023.

Equinor is developing the 816-MW Empire Wind 1 offshore wind project, which was selected in New York’s maiden offshore wind tender in 2019. In January 2021, its Empire Wind Phase 2 and the Beacon Wind projects totalling close to 2.5 GW emerged as the winners in New York’s latest offshore wind procurement round. The Norwegian group has entered into a 50/50 partnership for the Empire Wind and Beacon Wind projects with BP Plc (LON:BP).

(USD 1 = EUR 0.852)

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