On 20 December, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker and Lt. Governor Karyn Polito announced the award of $180 million in funding for projects supporting offshore wind development, with a part of this earmarked for Prysmian’s high-voltage cable factory in Somerset.
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The Massachusetts government will support the construction of Prysmian’s offshore wind cable manufacturing facility in Somerset with $25 million.
The Italy-based company purchased a site at Brayton Point in Somerset from Commercial Development Company (CDC) at the beginning of this year.
The site, which housed a now-closed coal-fired power plant, will soon become home to the factory valued at a total of $200 million which will deliver cables for the Commonwealth Wind and Park Wind City offshore wind farms, as well as other offshore wind projects on the U.S. East Coast.
The Baker-Polito administration will also pour $75 million into the Port of New Bedford infrastructure.
Of this, $15 million will go to the New Bedford Port Authority to extend its bulkhead and terminal space for the North Terminal, MassCEC’s New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal will get $45 million for facility improvements, and $15 million will go to New Bedford Foss Marine Termina l for the redevelopment of a site that will accommodate operations and terminal logistics facility to support offshore wind projects.
Further $75 million are going to Crowley to convert a vacant industrial port in Salem which, according to Lt. Governor Polito, will also support floating wind development in the northern part of Massachusetts.
Earlier this year, Crowley bought 42 acres at the former Salem Harbor Station, which will be redeveloped and will serve as the future home of the Salem Harbor Wind Terminal, the second major offshore wind port terminal in the state.
The Salem Harbor Wind Terminal is a public-private partnership signed between Crowley and the city of Salem, with AVANGRID serving as the port’s anchor tenant through its Commonwealth Wind and Park City Wind projects.
Furthermore, Massachusetts also awarded $360,000 to Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding for shipyard upgrades to enable their Somerset facility to fabricate and repair aluminum high-speed crew transfer vessels (CTVs), and $4.6 million to Shoreline Marine Terminal for the build-out of new berthing space, bulkheads, and piers for offshore wind crew transfer and other vessels.