Vineyard Offshore's CEO shared new details on Vineyard Wind 2 during a New Bedford visit.

NEW BEDFORD — If the offshore wind industry takes off like proponents hope, and if New Bedford becomes a key location within it like many believe it will, the nature of competition between different entities taking up residence in the Whaling City and throughout the region might take on a more collaborative tone than some industries.

This was one of the topics discussed at the Foss Marine Terminal in New Bedford on Monday, when Vineyard Offshore CEO Alicia Barton came by to see the site that will become the company's operations and maintenance (O&M) base, should government officials select Vineyard Offshore's bid for the 1,200-megawatt Vineyard Wind 2 project.

"This is, I think in a lot of ways, a glimpse of the future that's really underway today," Barton said, noting the work on the Vineyard Wind 1 project already in progress just down the street at the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal. As explained by Vineyard Offshore Director of Communications Andrew Doba, Vineyard Wind — the entity behind the Vineyard Wind 1 project — is a joint venture between Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP); Vineyard Offshore is CIP's offshore development entity.

Barton noted it was her first time seeing the site in person.

According to Barton, if the Vineyard Wind 2 bid is selected, start of construction would be aimed for "around 2029" with project completion expected by 2031. The project would bring 40-50 "long-term jobs" to New Bedford, Barton said.

"...that would be a long-term commitment of 25 years or more of good-paying jobs here to support the operations of our facility...," she said.

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"People who will be doing ... these jobs are sitting in middle school today, but by the time we are fully operational we expect people to be able to have careers here at this facility for their entire working life," said Foss Offshore Wind President Joel Whitman.

Foss Offshore Wind is the entity created to operate the Foss terminal, which will be used as a base for ships to transport equipment, materials and workers to and from wind farm construction sites, Whitman and others explained.

Great progress expected for Foss over coming months

According to Foss Marine Terminal President Andrew Saunders, "10% of the facility is running right now from an operational point of view, 90% is under construction."

"But this summer you'll probably have ... 50% operational and 50% still under construction," Saunders said, noting the deep water berthing area needed for intake of large ships should be ready "probably in June."

What if Vineyard Offshore's bid isn't picked?

While those in attendance at Foss on Monday acknowledged that Vineyard Offshore's Vineyard Wind 2 bid is not guaranteed to come to fruition, it's not the be-all/end-all for the Foss Marine Terminal's development project into an offshore wind industry support. According to Saunders, the site will be able to house "up to three, if not four" tenants.

While Whitman said he wouldn't be "naming names" of other bidders Foss has been in discussions with, he said the company has had conversations with "all the developers who have submitted" bids for New England's next wind farm project.

According to past Gannett reporting, proposals submitted by deadline last month were from Ørsted, Vineyard Offshore, Avangrid and SouthCoast Wind.

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"One of the goals of this site is to be able to offset the cost of developers setting up their O&M infrastructure," Whitman said "So one of the ways to do that is to design a facility here where we can have multiple operators at the same location, share the infrastructure, share the berthing facilities, and all the things you saw today."

According to Whitman, Foss currently does have some involvement with the Vineyard Wind 1 wind farm being developed at the nearby Marine Commerce Terminal by way of supplying some tugboats and barges for use in the project.

While multiple versions of plans for Vineyard Wind 2 exist to suit multi-state collaborative or individualized options for Mass., Rhode Island and Connecticut, Barton said all those scenarios would entail Foss as the O&M base.

Doba said it is not known when officials' decision on the offshore wind project proposals before them will come, but it is expected sometime over the summer.

What's special about the Foss Marine Terminal?

Whitman said the Foss terminal is a rare jewel for an industry with limited options in terms of prospective O&M base locations.

"These days it's very rare because all the frontage in New England has been taken up for 300 years," Whitman told The Standard-Times.

What makes Foss ideal, Whitman said, are its specific location along New Bedford Harbor, plus the size and shape of its ship berthing zone.

"If you're an operator of an O&M vessel, you want to be able to come in, get your business taken care of ... turn right around and go back out, so we're really excited because this location allows us to do that," Whitman said, noting New Bedford is the closest option for a port in proximity to the proposed Vineyard Wind 2 site, about 29 miles south of Nantucket. "And because we have the hurricane barrier, when you come into New Bedford, we're the nearest berth at the mouth of the harbor."

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Foss just the beginning

Whether or not Vineyard Offshore's Vineyard Wind 2 project is picked by officials to move forward, Foss Offshore has its sights set on growth, Whitman said, noting Foss Offshore is owned by a company called Saltchuk, which he called the largest operator of Jones Act-compliant transport vessels in the world.

"This is [Saltchuk's] only recent investment in the East Coast," he said. "So we're developing this port here and over time we're looking to develop similar capabilities up and down both coasts."

Collaboration will be key

Whitman said he sees New England's involvement in the offshore wind industry as suited to a collaborative, regional approach, which a multi-tenant facility like Foss, and a city like New Bedford, would be conducive to.

"So as a New Englander, I think regional is absolutely the way to go," Whitman said. "Also, remember ... no one has a couple hundred acres that they can just bring ... so it's not really, in our opinion, a case of one small port competing with another small port, Salem competing with New Bedford or something.

"If you want to build the volume of offshore wind that Massachusetts, Southern New England, or New England in general wants to do, we all need to work together...."

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Vineyard Wind 2 expected to bring 40-50 jobs to New Bedford, CEO says