New Bedford’s Foss Marine Terminal is gearing up to serve as a maintenance base for offshore wind.
Right now, the 26-acre facility on the city’s waterfront looks mostly bare, with piles of stone and dirt. But the first deep-water berth for offshore wind vessels could be finished sometime in June.
Workers are building a pier and dredging the adjacent seabed. When the terminal is fully built — possibly by 2029 — it will have three berths for large vessels and 11 for smaller ones, such as crew transport boats, said Andrew Saunders, president of the terminal.
“We're trying to forecast what is necessary for the industry, not just today, but ten years from now,” he said.
He walked the property Monday with Alicia Barton, CEO of Vineyard Offshore. She was visiting the site for the first time.
Vineyard Offshore is one of three companies vying for a Massachusetts offshore wind contract in the latest round of bidding. Vineyard Offshore has also bid in Connecticut and Rhode Island as part of the first regional offshore wind procurement in New England.
The company’s project, the 1,200-megawatt Vineyard Wind 2, would base operations and maintenance at the New Bedford terminal, Barton said.
“We're not a tenant yet,” she said. “This is part of our proposal to the New England states, where we reached initial terms to have that partnership. This is an anchor of our proposal.”
Construction of turbines for Vineyard Wind 2 would be staged in Salem. But operations and maintenance bring long-term jobs that last long after construction is done.
If Vineyard Wind 2 wins a contract, it will bring 40 to 50 long-term jobs to the terminal, she said.
A rendering of future development at the terminal shows several warehouse buildings for offshore wind companies’ parts and equipment, a parking garage for workers, and what Saunders called an induction center. He said the center will be like a ferry terminal — a place where employees arrive and prepare to enter the property, which is a secure area.
Warehouse space will be designed to serve the needs of not just one wind company, but several, said Joel Whitman, president of Foss Offshore Wind.
“Unlike in Europe, where you see a lot of proprietary O&M [operations and maintenance] facilities, doing it in this more shared environment will be much more efficient, because there's just not a ton of frontage available in southern New England or really anywhere on the coast,” he said.
An electric substation remains on the property from a decrepit fossil-fuel power plant torn down last year. Power available via the substation will be very useful, Saunders said.
That's because new vessels built to work on offshore wind have dual energy systems — diesel-generated electricity and battery power — and vessels will be able to charge their batteries at the Foss terminal, he said.
The terminal still needs its site plan reviewed by the city, and the wind contracts the terminal is intended to help fulfill have yet to be awarded.
Saunders said the terminal is doing limited work to support Vineyard Wind 1. About 10 percent of the facility’s capacity is operating, but that number should be 50 percent by summer, he said.
Phase 1 focused on demolition of the old Cannon Street Power Station, also known as the Sprague or Eversource facility, and initial construction work.
Phase 2, set to be operating in August, includes the first large vessel berth, a temporary pier to dock four to six crew vessels or tugboats, and a paved parking area. Temporary trailers will serve as the induction center.
Phase 3 represents the full buildout, with a garage, induction center, warehouses, and permanent vessel berths.
