The redesigned New London State Pier being built to support the offshore wind industry is on track for completion this year, according to the Connecticut Port Authority, the quasi-state agency that owns the facility.
State Pier has substantially been turned over to the contractor that will operate it and is on track to be the first terminal in the nation with two heavy capacity berths able to handle the largest offshore wind turbines ,said Ulysses B. Hammond, the authority’s interim executive director.
“We are doing something that hasn’t been done in our country before. So it’s kind of exciting to see. But it’s going to be even more exciting to see these turbines actually leaving the port of New London by the end of the summer,” Hammond said.
“As you are going over the GoldStar Bridge here you will see cranes that are looming above the bridge,” he said. “This will give everyone some indication of just how magnificent this whole operation is. And that's before one tower even actually arrives.”
Hammond said the Port Authority has also received the first $500,000 quarterly payment on a $20 million, 20-year lease with the joint venture of Eversource and Orsted. The companies are among a dozen ventures building offshore wind farms on the Atlantic continental shelf.
The state had projected the reconstruction of the State Pier to cost less than $100 million. But it has experienced several cost overruns, and is now expected to be completed at a cost of about $300 million.
