Technical Studies
Maine Offshore Wind Supply Chain Assessment
A new report by XODUS Group for the Maine Offshore Wind Roadmap assessed Maine’s offshore wind supply chain opportunity on a regional, national, and global scale. The assessment identifies specific opportunities for Maine and categorizes recommendations to improve Maine’s supply chain based on effort and impact.
Key findings include:
- Maine has highly regarded expertise in floating offshore wind, which can be combined with experience in related industries such as civil infrastructure, onshore energy infrastructure, and onshore construction to provide key opportunities for Maine in the offshore wind sector.
- Maine has advantages through more than a decade of floating OSW R&D and the ongoing and proposed floating offshore wind demonstration projects to continue to advance the floating offshore wind supply chain. Through these projects, and other fixed offshore wind projects along the East Coast, companies based in Maine have opportunities to gain relevant experience and be well-positioned to support the commercial floating wind industry.
- Maine has physical assets, such as deepwater ports, that can be leveraged to support fixed offshore wind projects along the Atlantic coast and drive the development of the local supply chain.
- Maine has nationally and internationally active offshore wind supply chain companies and future supply chain opportunities in project development and management, environmental permitting, surveying, engineering & design, maritime industry, construction, secondary steel suppliers, turbine inspection and maintenance, and other supporting professional services.
- Maine has potential capacity to build Crew Transfer Vessels and other smaller vessels such as guard or survey boats for the industry, as well as operate and maintain larger offshore wind vessels, and provide additional port services like stevedoring, fueling, bunkering services, haulage, and more.
- Several colleges and universities in Maine have core competencies and tools in Artificial Intelligence, data science, and robotics that can be leveraged and applied to offshore wind projects to reduce costs and provide additional supply chain opportunities for the state.
- Regional and industry collaboration will be necessary to develop an efficient and effective offshore wind supply chain.