Offshore wind executives say Long Islanders can expect to find maintenance jobs even after work is complete on the region's five offshore wind farms. They hosted a recruitment fair on Friday to get the word out.
Grant van Wyngaardeen, the head of procurement at Orstead, who is set to develop several of the farms, said workers will be needed on a ship in Port Jefferson to primarily operate a wind farm off the coast of Montauk, known as Sunrise Wind Farm. The ship can accommodate up to 60 passengers and is currently being constructed in the Gulf of Mexico.
“We see a lot of economic benefits and jobs coming to New York during the construction of the wind farm,” Van Wyngardeen said. “This highlights the jobs and the economic benefits that will be coming through the duration of the operation of the wind farm.”
Sunrise Wind Farm is set to power 600,000 homes through a substation in Holbrook, Long Island. It will also do some maintenance on the Revolution Wind Farm off the Coast of Martha’s Vineyard, which is set to power 350,000 homes throughout Connecticut and Rhode Island. The SouthFork Wind Project will also operate off the coast of Montauk. Orstead is partnering with Eversource, New England’s main energy supplier, on the project.
Van Wyngardeen added that many jobs will be created through the construction of the Wind Farm’s HVDC system, which will connect lines from the turbines to a substation for the power to be converted.
“That project is going to pull on a significant amount of trades and other skills and services from the region to construct and build the first of its kind HVDC substation for offshore wind,” Van Wyngardeen said.
Siemens Energy and Aker Solutions recently won the contract to build the power lines.
