Massachusetts Offshore Wind Ports & Infrastructure Assessment
2022 Massachusetts Offshore Wind Ports and Infrastructure Assessment: North Shore
With the formation of the Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Task Force for the Gulf of Maine and the commencement in late 2019 of planning efforts for potential offshore wind development, MassCEC initiated a project to expand the original 2017 offshore wind ports and infrastructure assessment to the North Shore region of Massachusetts (from Revere to Salisbury).
In 2022, MassCEC released the Massachusetts Offshore Wind Ports and Infrastructure Assessment 2022: North Shore which includes a summary of the workings and general requirements of operations and maintenance ports; a screening level assessment of port facilities 20 acres or greater in area that could have a potential reuse for marshalling, manufacturing or service/repair ports; and for the primary site that was identified from the screening level assessment, both an existing conditions and an engineering assessment were conducted.
In this North Shore sites assessment, special consideration was afforded to properties with potential to service offshore wind farm developments in the Gulf of Maine (where floating foundations are anticipated), as well as to the south of Cape Cod (where fixed-bottom turbine foundations are being utilized). The following were considered in the evaluation of the North Shore sites:
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The need for floating foundations for wind turbine generators (WTGs) in the Gulf of Maine.
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The continued technological advancements in WTGs which continue to increase in capacity and size and capacity; the largest commercially available currently are in the 10-15 MW range while the current offshore wind industry outlook is for a 20 MW maximum WTG capacity.
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The manufacturing of Tier 1 offshore wind components such as blades, as well as other potential manufacturing activities such as secondary steel, coating applications, etc.
In 2017, MassCEC released its first Massachusetts Offshore Wind Ports & Infrastructure Assessment to provide the offshore wind industry, and its associated supply chain, with critical information on existing port infrastructure at 18 waterfront properties on the South Coast and Metro-Boston (Boston, Quincy, New Bedford, Fall River, and Somerset). MassCEC’s main objective for this assessment is to provide detailed property information to guide the offshore wind industry in their decision-making process when selecting sites to manufacture, stage and service offshore wind components for the offshore wind market in Massachusetts and along the East Coast.
Volume One – Comprehensive Review of Existing Conditions at Massachusetts Waterfront Properties
For the first phase of the assessment, detailed information concerning the existing site conditions at 18 sites was collected, including ownership, current use and historical uses, access and transportation, physical site conditions and facilities, environmental conditions, and existing plans, designs, as-built surveys.
- Volume One: Introduction. This document is a short introductory report that complements the individual site Existing Conditions Assessments (links below), and details the methodology undertaken to compile the comprehensive information.
Volume Two – Engineering Assessment of Potential Site Redevelopment and Reuse Scenarios
Guided by offshore wind industry leaders worldwide, MassCEC established current and future trends to develop a set of offshore wind facility requirements for component manufacturing, staging, and operations and maintenance. Completed in October 2017, this report overlays the facility requirements for each of the above-listed offshore wind activities with the existing conditions at each Massachusetts waterfront property and evaluate which locations could best support various activities. For each property, an engineering analysis was conducted to create conceptual redevelopment designs, high-level cost estimates and permitting pathways required for the sites to be able to support offshore wind activities.
- Volume Two: Executive Summary and Introduction. This document provides a snapshot of the full report, for a quick and easy download.
- Volume Two: Complete Report. This document is the comprehensive, 400+ page report detailing the methodology, all redevelopment and reuse cases for all 18 sites, and full cost estimate and permitting information.
To see the site-specific Existing Conditions Assessments, Redevelopment and Reuse Scenarios, and review the backup documentation available, click on the links below to visit specific site pages.
Fall River/Somerset Area Sites
Brayton Point Power Plant - Somerset (Acquired by Commercial Development Company in 2018)
Montaup Power Plant Site - Somerset
Weaver's Cove Energy Site - Fall River
Fall River State Pier - Fall River
Borden & Remington Complex - Fall River
New Bedford Area Sites
Eversource Energy / Sprague Oil Site - New Bedford (Acquired by Cannon Street Holdings LLC in 2022)
New Bedford State Pier - New Bedford
Whale's Tooth Parking Lot and New Bedford Railyard - New Bedford
Revere Copper - New Bedford (Acquired by Shoreline Resources, LLC in 2019)
Boston/Quincy Area Sites
Parcels M and M-1 (7&8) - Boston
Quirk Auto (Former Quincy Shipyard) - Braintree/Quincy
As part of its Massachusetts Offshore Wind Ports & Infrastructure Assessment, MassCEC has created a gallery of web maps to display the 18 potentially available waterfront sites that could be improved through private investment to become suitable facilities for offshore wind component manufacturing, staging, and long-term operations and maintenance. See Massachusetts Offshore Wind Ports & Infrastructure Maps to tour these sites, or search the sites by offshore wind activity.