Marmen Welcon and Smulders to produce offshore wind transition pieces at Port of Albany, NY
by CM Staff
Port of Albany to strengthen its position as a hub for offshore wind manufacturing in the U.S.
Marmen Welcon and Smulders to Produce Offshore Wind Transition Pieces at the Port of Albany, New York (CNW Group/Marmen Welcon LLC)
TROIS-RIVIERES and ALBANY — On Aug. 24, Marmen Welcon LLC, a joint venture between two manufacturers of onshore and offshore wind towers, announced that it has concluded a strategic alliance with Smulders, a European-based international steel construction company, 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 experience to the automated Marmen Welcon facility, soon to be built at the Port of Albany, New York, made up of heavy steel fabrication, comprising the lower support structures beneath offshore wind towers that connect the tower to the foundation.
The strategic alliance with Smulders supports an offshore wind investment in the United States that was announced earlier this year by Marmen and Welcon, in partnership with the Port of Albany and Equinor, a broad-based energy company. 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 steel-fabricated components (foundations, transition pieces and towers) in the U.S., thanks to our new facility,” said Carsten Pedersen, Chairman of Welcon.
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.
