Bladt Industries has secured its first large order in the US offshore wind market. The Danish foundation manufacturer has won an engineering, procurement and construction contract to build a substation for the 800 MW Vineyard Wind wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts, informs Bladt in a press statement.

The company does not disclose the contract's exact value, however, a turnkey order of this scale would usually carry a price tag of around EUR 100 million.

Regardless, a sizeable sum will be spent on transportation.

Despite impressive clean capacity targets for more than 20 GW of Eastern Seaboard offshore wind, the market is still in such an immature stage that suppliers and subsuppliers have not yet established domestic production. Vineyard Wind, CIP and Avangrid's US consortium and namesake debut facility, will not provide the basis for establishing such a supply chain, as the project is slated to enter operation as early as 2021-'22.

The substation will thus be made at Bladt's Danish factory and then shipped across the Atlantic. This should once again entice the company to hire more staff after a recent recruitment party was canceled due to the postponement of coastal wind farms Vesterhav Nord & Syd. Bladt Industries Chief Sales Officer Nils Overgaard also notes the US task will also generate some local orders.

"It will be manufactured in Denmark, but many US companies will be tied to the project as subsuppliers," he says.

Bladt sees the contract as an important part of the company's development, says CEO Klaus Steen Mortensen.

"We are honored that the owners and partners behind Vineyard Wind have chosen Bladt Industries as supplier. This is a stepping stone for Bladt Industries into the US offshore wind market, which is a market with tremendous potential. We see this contract as a prerequisite for developing a future platform for collaboration in the US market. We are looking forward to developing our offerings together with local fabricators and partners in the US over the coming years, offering our unique experience from the offshore wind business," Mortensen writes in the press release.

Attractive market

Bladt has experience from many European offshore wind markets and has established production in several countries. The company now aims to use the Vineyard Wind contract to gain a foothold in the US, which is seen as having major potential.

The EPC contract entails that Bladt will manage associated engineering tasks, including the procurement and installation of a 3,000-ton substation and a 1,500-ton jacket foundation.

Beyond Bladt, Semco Maritime and ISA Engineering will also play roles in building the wind farm. The former will install the electrical system, and the latter will participate in project design.

Construction phase should begin later this year, preparing for the installation of MHI Vestas' 9.5 MW wind turbines.

The facility will supply power to more than 400,000 US households upon entering operation in 2022.

English Edit: Daniel Frank Christensen

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