The state is continuing to invest in the offshore wind industry by creating the nation's first offshore wind training platform at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay.
The platform sits at the end of a long dock just off the Maritime Academy's campus, and will allow students to have hands-on offshore wind turbine training, like learning how to disembark a ship onto a platform in choppy sea.
"This facility will help us continue to lead the country in the development of a skilled, well-trained workforce, not just for the Vineyard Wind project, but for an entire wind industry in the United States," said Michael Burns, director for the school's Center for Marine Training.
Governor Charlie Baker christened the new platform with a champagne bottle on Thursday and said he hoped the platform would help drive job development around the industry.
"This too is the start of something that has the potential to be very, very big. If you think not just about what’s happening in Massachusetts, but also Connecticut and Rhode Island and all the way down the east coast," he said. "This ultimately is going to affect the job opportunities."
Though the 84-turbine Vineyard Wind project has been stalled, Baker said Massachusetts is continuing to invest in offshore wind in the area south of Martha's Vineyard. The state will be soliciting more bids for another 800 megawatt windfarm in the next few weeks, and they hope to open up another 1600 megawatts for solicitation in the next year.
