newsflash
Smulders and Marmen Welcon to Produce Offshore Wind Transition Pieces at the Port of Albany, New York
Smulders is pleased to announce that it has concluded a strategic alliance with Marmen Welcon LLC (“Marmen Welcon”), the Joint venture between two of the world’s leading manufacturers of onshore and offshore wind towers, for the manufacturing of transition pieces for offshore wind turbines for the U.S. market at the Port of Albany facility. This agreement accelerates the growth of the U.S. offshore wind supply chain by bringing Smulders’s expertise to the highly automated Marmen Welcon facility, soon to be built at the Port of Albany, New York, the largest inland port in the Northeastern U.S. Transition pieces, made up of heavy steel fabrication, are the lower support structures beneath offshore wind towers that connect the tower to the foundation.
The strategic alliance with Smulders supports the largest offshore wind investment in the United States announced earlier this year by Marmen and Welcon, in partnership with the Port of Albany and Equinor, a broad-based energy company and a global leader in offshore wind. Marmen Welcon, in conjunction with Smulders, will be the first to manufacture offshore wind towers and transition pieces in the United States, at the Port of Albany facility. The port development is scheduled to begin later in 2021, and offshore wind towers are scheduled to begin production at the end of 2023.
“Smulders is clearly the right partner for Marmen Welcon with its track record of over 2,000 transition pieces manufactured at its facilities located in Europe,” said Patrick Pellerin, President of Marmen. “The strategic partnership will allow for knowledge transfer and enhance our manufacturing capabilities for transition piece production in our future Port of Albany facility.”
“With this announcement, offshore wind developers now have the opportunity to source all of their large steelfabricated components (foundations, transition pieces and towers) in the U.S., thanks to our new facility,” said Carsten Pedersen, Chairman of Welcon.
Raf Iemants, Managing Director of Smulders said: “With already more than 20 years of offshore wind experience in the European market, we are looking forward to sharing our expertise in the manufacturing of transition pieces with Marmen Welcon and contribute to the development of a sustainable supply chain for the upcoming U.S. offshore wind market.”
First U.S. Offshore Wind Tower Manufacturing Facility
Announced earlier in 2021, the US$350M investment is driven by Equinor, Marmen Welcon, the Port of Albany and supported by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). The project is the largest manufacturing project of renewable offshore wind towers in the U.S. The project will transform the port infrastructure to produce offshore wind towers and transition pieces. The project is expected to create up to 350 direct jobs in New York State, in addition to economic benefits for State and local businesses
